KHNP Wins Tritium Removal Facility Project in Romania

President Hwang Joo-ho of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Minister Lee Chang-yang of Trade, Industry and Energy, CEO Cosmin Ghita of Nuclearelectrica and Romanian Ambassador to Korea Cezar Manole Armeanu attend a signing ceremony to build a tritium removal facility in Romania on June 22 at Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul. (Photo: MOTIE)

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said on June 27 Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) was awarded a 195 million euro tritium removal facility project in Romania.

The latest nuclear facility order is the largest-ever single export deal, and is the second time Korea has agreed to export nuclear facilities since the President Yoon Suk-yeol government was inaugurated, following a deal on Egypt’s El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant.

The deal involves a project to build a facility that captures and recycles tritium, a radwaste substance, at a nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, the only nuclear power plant in Romania.

The deal came after a half-year of negotiations since KHNP participated in a bidding last October.

The design of the planned tritium removal facility will start in July. It is to be dedicated in 2027.

KHNP will be responsible for areas ranging from the design and supply of equipment, raw materials and parts, to construction and test-operation. The value of the project stands at about 260 billion won.

The government expects the latest deal will give a leg-up to exporting the country’s nuclear equipment and nuclear power plants. It aims to export 10 nuclear power plants by 2030.

A MOTIE official said, “The deal will involve procuring 24 kinds of nuclear equipment, tools and materials, which is worth 100 billion won, thus contributing to reviving the nuclear power ecosystem, and Korea is evaluated to have secured better foothold to win additional orders on follow-up projects, such as nuclear equipment improvement projects than the order on new nuclear power units at Cernavoda.”

Romania has been pushing ahead with a project to build two nuclear power units, in addition to the existing two units at Cernavoda.

President Hwang Joo-ho of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and President Tran Chi Thanh of VinAtom pose after they inked an MOU on cooperation in the nuclear power and small modular reactor sectors, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on June 22. (Photo: KHNP)

KHNP Ramps Up Nuclear Power Cooperation with Vietnam

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power inked an MOU on cooperation in the nuclear power and small modular reactor sectors with VinAtom, a Vietnamese state-run nuclear power research institute, in Hanoi, Vietnam, on June 22.

The deal came in conjunction of the Korea-Vietnam Business Forum, designed to boost cooperation between the two countries.

Under the deal, the two institutions agreed to closely collaborate in areas, such as nuclear reactor design, technology and safety, utilizing next-generation reactors to realize net zero, regulatory system, such as SMR licenses and permits and laws, and manpower development.

The deal is expected to resume technology and manpower exchanges between the two countries, which had been suffered a setback in the wake of the Vietnamese revoking of a plan to introduce nuclear power units in 2016.

Both countries’ cooperation in technology development for the peaceful use of the nuclear power sector and manpower exchanges is expected to contribute to promoting their co-prosperity.