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| ▲ This undated photo, provided by the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. on Oct. 12, 2023, shows Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (3rd from L), United Arab Emirates President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (R) and other officials attend a ceremony marking the commencement of operations of Unit 3 at the Barakah nuclear power plant, built by South Korea, in Abu Dhabi in this file photo taken Jan. 16, 2023. (Yonhap) |
S Korea-Romania-nuclear plant
S. Korea signs consortium deal with Canada, Italy for nuclear reactor refurbishment in Romania
By Oh Seok-min
SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's state-run energy company said Thursday it is taking a step closer to winning a project worth around 2.5 trillion won (US$1.87 billion) to refurbish an aging nuclear reactor in Romania's Cernavoda power plant through a consortium with Canadian and Italian firms.
The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) signed a tripartite consortium agreement with Canada's Candu Energy Inc. and Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A. to jointly conduct a project to refurbish Cernavoda's unit 1 reactor.
The signing ceremony took place in Romania's capital city of Bucharest on Thursday (local time), the company said.
Located some 170 kilometers east of Bucharest, the unit with a capacity of 700 megawatts has been in operation since 1996 and its 30-year operating license is supposed to expire in 2026.
The Romanian government has sought to renew the license for an additional 30 years and SNN plans to upgrade and replace key components starting in 2027, the KHNP said.
Under the agreement, the KHNP will lead the construction part of the project, including building radioactive waste storage and other infrastructure, while Candu and Ansaldo will take charge of the engineering and procurement work as original designers of the unit.
"The three companies will work together to win the project," a KHNP official said, adding that Romania's nuclear energy company SNN, or Nuclearelectrica, which operates the nuclear plant, is expected to select a preferred bidder within the first half of next year.
If signed, the envisioned contract will be the second large-scale export of nuclear power facilities for the Yoon Suk Yeol government after South Korea won a 3 trillion-won deal in August 2022 to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant project in El Dabaa.
The Yoon administration reversed the nuclear phase-out policy of the preceding government and set a target of exporting 10 nuclear power reactors by 2030.
In June, the KHNP won a 260 billion-won deal to build a tritium removal facility at the Cernavoda plant.
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