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The dispute between the USA and South Korea over nuclear technology is surmountable, and the biggest obstacles to the nuclear power plant project in Poland are within its own territory – writes Wojciech Jakóbik – editor-in-chief at BiznesAlert.pl.
- “We can confirm that by utilizing the good allied relations between Korea and the USA, KHNP will make every effort to resolve the situation with Westinghouse as quickly as possible,” a representative for Korea promised the Sejm.
- “The 6-9 GW from the Polish Nuclear Energy Program (PPEJ) seems justified and I would prefer that it included reactors from Korea,” Tomasz Nowak, deputy from the Civic Coalition told BznesAlert.pl.
- “Any initiative aimed at building a nuclear power plant in proven technology should be under the special care of the government,” said Maciej Małecki of Law and Justice at the meeting of the Commission.
- If the Poles decide among themselves what and where to build, the nuclear dispute between the USA and Korea can be resolved. Then the challenge will be to organize logistics and delivery chains for two projects in different technologies at the same time and in view of the nuclear renaissance across the world, which impairs the availability of materials that in turn increases the costs of energy projects of this type – Wojciech Jakóbik writes.
Korea’s dispute with the US over Poland can be solved
“I propose that the second location project in 2040 should be Konin. It should be considered in the Energy Policy of Poland until 2040, so that the public-private hybrid project is approved by the government,” said Tomasz Nowak, a member of the Civic Coalition and vice-chairman of the Committee on Energy, Climate and Treasury at the committee meeting last week.
“Only a project included in the energy strategy will receive government guarantees for energy consumption. If nuclear power is to work as a base load and be a safeguard for the power system, we need to calculate how much of energy from nuclear power we need. This 6-9 GW from the Polish Nuclear Energy Program seems justified and I would prefer that it included an NPP from Korea,” Nowak said in an interview with BiznesAlert.pl. “From what I can see, Westinghouse is working closely with the KHNP. If the basis is a Westinghouse technology license, then these solutions are consistent.
We are talking about the APR1400 technology developed on the basis of the solutions transferred by Combustion Engineering, then acquired by the American Westinghouse. The dispute over who owns the American technology is still on, but Koreans believe it has been completely “koreanized”. However, the Americans continue to argue that a license from the US Department of Energy will be needed if the Koreans want to transfer technology in Poland,” he explained.
“We confirm that we are in dispute with Westinghouse. Court and arbitration proceedings are ongoing,” said KHNP VP In-Sik Park in the Sejm. “Westinghouse is a good and consistent partner with whom we have been working since the 1970s. We had a chance to cooperate in the implementation of the project in Barakah (United Arab Emirates – ed.). Together with Westinghouse, we made it a success. We can confirm that by utilizing the good allied relations between Korea and the USA, KHNP will make every effort to resolve the situation with Westinghouse as quickly as possible,” Park promised.
It is worth recalling that the American Bechtel-Westinghouse consortium that will build the first Polish nuclear power plant in Pomerania will import key components from a shipyard in South Korea. Ultimately the amicable settlement of the dispute may be achieved through political decisions made by Seoul and Washington.
Is everyone really on board?
Theoretically, there is also no dispute about the atom from Korea in Poland. “Any initiative aimed at building a nuclear power plant in proven technology should be under the special care of the government,” said Maciej Małecki from Law and Justice at the meeting of the Commission. However, he also pointed out the fact that the ministries responsible for building NPPs were absent at the meeting. “We are meeting here not because the project is going smoothly, but I and not only I have the impression that the project has been frozen and there is no will to talk with representatives of South Korea,” he warned. He referred in this way to the revelations of Politika Insight about the alleged freezing of the Korean nuclear project in Poland. MP Ireneusz Zyska from Law and Justice accused the Secretary of State in the Ministry of State Assets Ryszard Kropiwnicki of “lack of preparation” and called for real support for investments in Konin. “For us, the construction of this power plant is a strategic issue. We’re in danger of electricity supply gap. Nuclear energy will be a stable base load power,” Zyska concluded. Tomasz Nowak from the Civic Coalition estimated that coalition MPs in dialogue with the government will now want to include the atom from Korea in the Polish Nuclear Energy Program as the second project. “We should decide whether to make this project the second one,” said Novak. He recalled that the current version of the PPEJ involves two government projects (the first in Pomerania) and the previous ruling team considered the one from Korea as “private”.
However, members of both sides of the dispute blamed each other. The current ruling team accused the previous one that it had not prepared the Korean project and MP Krzysztof Gadowski even mentioned it was a “propaganda project”. Rumor has it that after the summer break it will become clear at what stage the project in Korea actually is and what can be done about it. The previous helmsmen of the nuclear program pointed to a lack of real action since the change of power in October 2023. The fact is that an update of the Polish Nuclear Energy Program, which could include an atom from Korea, is planned “by the end of the year”, despite the fact that the Koreans continue to argue it is possible to build the first unit by 2035. Thus, it will be possible to further postpone this deadline depending on Poland’s strategic progress, as in the case of the US atom, which was originally supposed to have its first reactor in 2033, but the delays accumulated so far have made the new government talk about 2035. If the Poles decide among themselves what and where to build, the nuclear dispute between the USA and Korea can be resolved. Then the challenge will be to organize logistics and delivery chains for two projects in different technologies at the same time and in view of the nuclear renaissance across the world, which impairs the availability of materials that in turn increases the costs of energy projects of this type.
