South Korea’s government has dismissed claims from Korean opposition politicians that its bid to build two nuclear reactors in Czechia had been underpriced and that costs would inevitably increase once work began, the Korean Herald reports.
The opposition Democratic Party of Korea told a press conference that the $18bn bid was an “impossible mission”, adding that it would not “tolerate a situation in which a gargantuan amount of taxpayers’ money could be wasted”.
The controversy stems from fears that South Korea has consistently bid too low for nuclear projects.
Last year, economic consultancy Britain Remade analysed the costs of nuclear plants built since 2000. It found that South Korea’s costs per watt generated were 50% less than France’s, 33% less than the US’ and 15% less than China’s.
The row coincided with a visit to Prague by President Yoon Suk-yeol and Ahn Duk-geun, Korea’s minister for energy.
Ahn told reporters that Kepco (Korea Electric Power Corporation) had won the deal because of its “capacity to complete the construction on time within budget”.
Claims ‘completely unfounded’
The president’s senior secretary for economic affairs, Park Chun-sup, was more outspoken, calling the claims “completely unfounded fake news” and “sophistry that undermines efforts to create jobs and revitalise the economy by rebuilding the nuclear ecosystem”.
A number of other Korean nuclear experts defended the government.
Among them was Joo Han-gyu, president of the country’s Atomic Energy Research Institute.
He noted that the Czech units would be twice as expensive as the two reactors built for Korea’s Hanul nuclear power plant, which went live in 2022.
He said this showed that Kepco was not “dumping”.
“Over the past 45 years, we have accumulated construction experience by continuously building two nuclear plants every three years, and we have perfectly established the nuclear industry ecosystem, allowing us to build efficiently,” he said.
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