PRAGUE -- The governments, state-run firms and private-sector companies of South Korea and the Czech Republic signed 13 memoranda of understanding to team up with one another for the entire process and delivery of the nuclear power unit construction project.
According to the presidential office, these documents will allow South Korean and Czech entities to collaborate on the preconstruction, construction and postconstruction stages of nuclear power units, if a group of South Korean firms clinch nuclear export deals with the Czech Republic as scheduled in March 2025.
Under the signed documents, the two countries will supply and localize equipment related to newly built nuclear energy units in the Czech Republic. They will also work together to design and test-run the units, develop nuclear fuels, dispose of radioactive waste, train nuclear power technicians, and share information and technology related to nuclear energy.
These documents were signed as President Yoon Suk Yeol and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala visited the headquarters of power station equipment maker Doosan Skoda Power in Plzen, about 84 kilometers southwest of Prague, the Czech capital. Doosan Skoda Power is fully owned by South Korean engineering firm Doosan Enerbility.
Among the attendees were Daewoo Engineering and Construction Chair Jung Won-ju, Doosan Group Chair Park Jeong-won and Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Chief Executive Officer Whang Joo-ho.
The Industry Ministries of the two countries also agreed to foster cooperation in all stages of the nuclear power project delivery through one of the MOUs.
Companies participating in the signing ceremony included state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, Doosan Enerbility, Daewoo Engineering and Construction, Kepco Engineering and Construction, Kepco Plant Service and Engineering, among others.
The Czech Republic's Armatury Group, Doosan Skoda Power, BAEST Machines and Structures, Sudop Praha, Reko Praha and TES Vsetin also participated in the signing.
From academic circles, South Korea's Kepco International Nuclear Graduate School and Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, as well as the Czech Republic's Brno University of Technology and the University of West Bohemia took part in the MOU signing.
The documents signed Friday will herald a "nuclear energy renaissance," Yoon said during his visit to Doosan Skoda Power's facility.
Yoon also touted nuclear energy as a means to achieving a stable supply of electricity, carbon neutrality and energy security to ensure access to affordable energy to protect critical infrastructure.
"We are killing three birds with one stone," Yoon said,
Fiala said in his speech that nuclear energy has become the primary source of electricity, saying the country has gone through all necessary legislative steps to introduce new power plants
Fiala also expected a boon for the Czech economy, should the mandate of having Czech entities account for 60 percent of all companies taking part in the project prove successful.
A South Korean consortium led by the KHNP in July became the preferred bidder for the nuclear power project to build two 1,000-megawatt units in Dukovany, Czech Republic.
Before his visit to Plzen, Yoon said in a business forum attended by some 470 participants Friday that the MOUs will establish the groundwork for cooperation in "all phases of the formation of a nuclear energy ecosystem" from nuclear plant construction to technology cooperation and manpower training.
He added that the nuclear energy cooperation will open the doors to cooperation in other areas such as electric vehicles, robots and high-speed trains
