Prague not anticipating any delay in nuclear power plant talks with S. Korea: Czech official

Prague does “not anticipate” any delays in finalizing negotiations with South Korea’s nuclear power company for its nuclear power plant construction project due to the political situation in Seoul, a senior Czech official said Thursday.

A South Korean consortium, led by the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), was selected as the preferred bidder in July to build two reactors at the Czech Republic’s Dukovany power plant.

“We do not anticipate delay in finalizing the contract or progressing with the project,” Tomas Ehler, acting director general for nuclear energy at the Czech industry ministry, told Yonhap News Agency in an email.

The Czech official was responding to questions on whether President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law declaration last week may affect the negotiations.

“The Czech side is closely monitoring the situation, with Czech representatives maintaining regular contact with counterparts from the Republic of Korea and KHNP,” he added, referring to South Korea by its official name.

While meeting with Yonhap News during his visit to Seoul late last month, Ehler said the negotiations were “on track” for the signing of a final contract scheduled for March.

Ehler reaffirmed the sides are moving toward signing an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract as planned.

“Negotiations between the investor’s team and KHNP, as the preferred supplier, are progressing as planned, focusing on technical and commercial aspects, with the aim of signing the EPC contract as scheduled in March 2025,” he said.

If finalized, the deal, estimated at 24 trillion won (US$16.7 billion), would mark South Korea’s first overseas nuclear power plant project since 2009, when KHNP won the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant contract in the United Arab Emirates.