Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) said it signed a letter of intent on long-term cooperation in the uranium enrichment sector with France-based Orano, with President Lee Jae-myung and French President Emmanuel Macron in attendance at the Elysee Palace on Sept. 8.
The agreement is a follow-up to an MOU on cooperation the two parties has struck last April in the nuclear fuel life-cycle area.
In particular, KHNP said the LOI took on significance since with the singing of the agreement occurred with the leaders of the two countries in attendance, indicating the their deep interest in nuclear power and nuclear fuel supply chains.
With the striking of the LOI, both companies are expected to further solidify their partnership and continue expanding a long-term cooperation in the uranium enrichment area.
It is expected to serve not only as an opportunity for KHNP to secure new Western sphere enrichment supply sources and diversify supply chains, but also for Orano to ramp up a new nuclear enrichment project business foundation.
KHNP President Kim Hoe-chun said, “Amid rising uncertainties in the global nuclear fuel market, it is more significant to secure supply resources in advance, and with the signing of the LOI, both companies will expand their cooperation and future strengthen their nuclear fuel supply stability.”
Claude Imauven, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said, “The cooperation with KHNP will serve as a significant opportunity for both companies to strengthen cooperation in the uranium enrichment sector and we expect both companies to continue cooperation in the front-end-cycle field in the years to come.”
KHNP Teams Up with Westinghouse to Promote Cooperation in North American Nuclear Power Market
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power was once embroiled in a lawsuit battle over nuclear power technology with Westinghouse.
The two companies are now joining forces to build eight nuclear power units in the United States.
As KHNP has reached a tentative agreement to employ the Korean nuclear power standard APR1400 for two of the nuclear power units, KHNP will be able to enter the North American nuclear power market, which has been virtually closed to the Korean nuclear power company.
A challenging task remains on solving risk issues related to investment capital, project profits, project delays and rising construction costs.
Some experts say that KHNP should not repeat the example of Toshiba, whose head office faced a management crisis in the wake of the insolvency of the nuclear power business the Japanese acquired from Westinghouse.
Korean nuclear industry sources said on Sept. 8 that it was evident that both sides need each other.
They said the Korean side, with core technology, the foundation of designing a nuclear reactor, has the capability to obtain construction permissions from the U.S. government, but it lacked supply chains for the parts and raw materials in need to build large-sized nuclear power units.
KHNP and Korean nuclear power companies have rich experiences related to the design, construction and operation of nuclear power units, but they are unable to enter the North American nuclear power market independently due to the previous agreement signed with Westinghouse.
The connection of Korea and Westinghouse dates back to the history of Kori Nuclear Power Unit 1, Korea’s first nuclear power facility.
Westinghouse held a ground-breaking ceremony for Kori Nuclear Power Unit 1 with its own reactor in 1971 and put it into commercial operation in 1978.
Korea, learning nuclear power technology from Westinghouse, pursued technology self-sufficiency. KHNP successfully developed the Korean nuclear power standard APR1400 by investing 234.6 billion won over a 10-year period between 1992 and 2001.
KHNP has proved its competitiveness by winning the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates, outbidding France in 2009. In 2019, the APR1400 obtained a design certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
As KHNP has been rising as a competitive rival in the global nuclear power unit, Westinghouse filed a lawsuit to the U.S. court against Korea Electric Power Corp. and KHNP, disputing that the APR1400 contains their core technologies.
But both sides agreed to cooperate in the global nuclear power market, ending the legal dispute.
The inclusion of the two APR1400 units in the Korean-U.S. joint project means that KHNP can reenter the North American market through their joint projects.
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