- Agreement on the joint entry into the foreign nuclear power market
- Synergy between U.S. technology and Korea’s construction capabilities
- This will put the brakes on China and Russia that are winning most contracts on new nuclear power plants
- “Need to modify the policy on nuclear energy for nuclear power competitiveness”
South Korea and the United States have agreed to jointly enter the foreign nuclear power market. U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in released a joint statement on May 21 and announced that, “we commit to develop cooperation in overseas nuclear markets, including joint participation in nuclear power plant projects, while ensuring the highest standards of international nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation are maintained.”
An official from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained, “There is a demand for nuclear power plants in the Middle East and Europe. If both countries enter the market together, it will help them gain an advantage in the competition to win new contracts to build foreign nuclear power plants.”
South Korea has decided to promote nuclear technology exports to revive the nuclear power plant ecosystem. It is a so-called ‘two-track’ strategy that maintains its ‘nuclear phase out’ policy domestically, but exports nuclear power plant technology to foreign markets.
According to the nuclear power industry sources, the Czech Republic, Poland, the United Kingdom, and Saudi Arabia are seeking to build new nuclear power plants.
From the American standpoint, they expressed a willingness to regain its status as “the leader of the nuclear power industry” through its cooperation with South Korea. Recently, China and Russia are sweeping up most new contracts in the global nuclear power plant market.
The U.S. is promoting to construct American nuclear power plants with Westinghouse and General Electric (GE).
A senior official in the domestic nuclear power plant industry, who preferred to stay anonymous, said, “The U.S. has the original technology in the field of nuclear power plant design. Whereas we excel in the field of construction and equipment.”
Professor Chung Bum Jin of the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Kyunghee University said, “(The cooperation for nuclear power plants between the U.S. and Korea) is also intended to keep China and Russia in check.”
He also explained, “If Chinese and Russian nuclear power plants are built around the world, it will be difficult (for the U.S.) to confirm the amount of uranium being used. It will also weaken the American nuclear power.”
On the 19th, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin virtually attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the cooperation projects of the Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant in the Jiangsu Province and the Xudabao Nuclear Power Plant in the Liaoning Province.
Professor Chung said, “It appears that the nuclear cooperation agenda was strongly requested by the U.S. It would have been difficult for the South Korean government to decline.”
There is also a possibility that South Korea and the U.S. may cooperate in the field of Small Modular Reactor (SMR), which is the next-generation nuclear power plant in the industry.
SMR is a nuclear power plant that has reduced its capacity by one-tenth of the conventional nuclear power plant.
Where and how South Korea and the U.S. will cooperate are yet to be clarified.
Professor Joo Han-gyu of Seoul National University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering said, “The most likely scenario is that the two countries win contracts to build two next-generation nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia,” and added that, “We have four years before this begins in earnest.”
He added, “Until then, we need a ‘steppingstone policy’ to maintain Korea’s nuclear power plant competitiveness. To this end, we need to modify the policy on nuclear energy.”
This article was originally posted in the JungAng Ilbo newspaper.
