South Korea wants to export nuclear reactors to Romania
Date: 07-01-2010
South Korea wants to enter the European market of nuclear energy and the officials of the Seoul government contacted Romania and other states in Europe, Kim Young-hak stated, state secretary in the Korean ministry of Science and Economy, according to the newspaper The Korea Herald. A consortium made up of four South-Korean companies won a contract of 40 billion dollars for the construction, operation and maintenance of nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates.
South Korea became the sixth country in the world to export nuclear reactors, after the US, France, Russia, Canada and Japan.
Officials of the Seoul government showed they negotiate with several countries in the Middle East, Europe and Asia to sell reactors. Winning the contracts in the Emirates should demonstrate the capacities for nuclear energy of South Korea and to grow the chances of South Korean companies to get on the market among which Turkey, Jordan, Romania and Ukraine, the officials of the Seoul government showed, according to The Korea Herald.
Kim Young-hak showed that the Asian state wants to get on European markets, dominated by French companies. The main competitor for South Korea is a consortium led by the French group Areva.
« Areva has a geographic advantage in Europe. But, as it was clear in the negotiations in the Emirates, it is not impossible for Korea to get on the market. Indeed, we are in contact with Romania and other European countries” the Korean official showed.
In Romania there is only one nuclear plant, in Cernavoda, operated by the state company Nuclearelectrica. The plant in Cernavoda has two nuclear reactors, other two units to be built up to 2015-2016. The government selected, for the construction of reactor 3 and 4, a consortium made up of Nuclearelectrica which owns 51% of the project, and the companies Enel ( Italy) CEZ ( the Czech Republic), Iberdrola ( Spain), RWE (Germany), ArcelorMittal Romania and the French-Belgian group GDF Suez.
The plant in Cernavoda gives at present 18% of the national consumption of electricity and the new reactos will have similar power with those already operational, after an investment estimated at four billion euro. The authorities intent to build another nuclear plant, but the details of this project have not been settled. Last year, the government drew up a study which showed that Romania could build reactors with total power of 2,000 – 3,000 MW.
For the study there were selected five types of nuclear power plants representing the most advanced technology on a global level, respectively EPR 1,600 ( a project named European Power Reactor, of 1,600 MW and developed with France and Germany), AP 1000 ( a new type of reactor with pressured water which could generate approximately 1,100 MW of electricity), ACR 1000 ( reactor with installed power of 1,000 MW), ABWR 1,300 ( reactor advanced with hot water of 1,300 MW) and APR 1,400 ( rector used by the nuclear industry in South Korea, with power of 1,400 MW).
