South Korea and the United States will have another round of talks on renewing a bilateral nuclear energy pact in Vienna this weekend, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The delegates from South Korea and the U.S. plan to hold the 11th round of negotiations in Austria on Sunday on the renewal of the accord over Seoul’s civil nuclear energy use, also known as the “123 agreement.” The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a plenary meeting for the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The pact signed in 1974 bans Seoul from enriching uranium and reprocessing spent nuclear fuel due to proliferation concerns.

South Korea has been seeking to renew the accord in a bid to meet growing energy demand at home and help its exports of nuclear power plants. But the U.S. has been reluctant to do so, apparently due to a possible negative impact on its global nonproliferation campaign amid concerns over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.

Seoul’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the two sides will have intensive consultations, to be reflected in a new pact, over how to promote strategic cooperation between the two countries.

The main sticking point of the accord renewal is whether Seoul can be allowed to use “pyroprocessing” technology, a reprocessing technology considered as posing less proliferation risks as it leaves separated plutonium mixed with other elements.

South Korea has wanted to use the technology as it could help ease the headache of the disposal of nuclear waste in a country with a small territory. But Washington has been reluctant to allow South Korea to do so due to proliferation concerns.

Earlier, the two allies agreed to extend the agreement by two years to March 2016 in order to buy time for further negotiations. (Yonhap)