Washington puts brakes on Korea Hydro’s nuclear power plant export to Czech

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power headquarters [Courtesy of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power’s application to export nuclear power plants to the Czech Republic was rejected by the U.S. government, according to court documents. The subsidiary of state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. is locked in litigation with U.S. Westinghouse over whether South Korea’s nuclear power technologies can be exported independently.

The rejection means that the U.S. government intends to force Korea Hydro to cooperate with Westinghouse, which claims ownership of Korean nuclear technology, raising concerns that South Korea’s nuclear power plant exports to the European country could be blocked unless an agreement with U.S. company is reached.

According to documents filed by Korea Hydro and Westinghouse in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Tuesday (local time), Korea Hydro provided information to the U.S. Department of Energy on Dec. 23 regarding its bid for the Czech nuclear power project.

The filing is related to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, which designates certain nuclear power technology as export controlled and imposes an obligation to obtain a license or report to the Department of Energy when such technology is transferred to a foreign country.

Under the regulation, the Czech Republic is one of the countries on the U.S. list for nuclear power transfer and companies wishing to export nuclear power to the country are required to notify the Department of Energy within 30 days of commencing the transfer activity.

Therefore, once the Department of Energy accepted the application, Korea Hydro would able to export nuclear power to the Czech Republic regardless of its lawsuit with Westinghouse.

However, in a Jan. 19 letter sent to Korea Hydro, the Department of Energy rejected the application, saying that “a notification to the Department of Energy under Section 810 must be submitted by U.S. persons.”

This means that Korea Hydro, as a Korean company, is not a party to the notification because the obligation to comply with U.S. export controls falls on the U.S. company taking the U.S. technology out of the country, suggesting that Korea Hydro will have to file together with Westinghouse to be accepted.

In a Feb. 10 letter to Westinghouse, Korea Hydro said it is ready to discuss its position with Westinghouse and believes a mutually satisfactory resolution can be reached.

Westinghouse argues that Korea Hydro’s nuclear power plant technology is based on its own technology exported under a U.S. government license and thus it is subject to U.S. export controls when South Korea re-sells the technology to a third country.

Korea Hydro argues that while it received assistance from Westinghouse in the early stages of technology development, the nuclear power plant it is seeking to export was developed independently and is not subject to U.S. export controls.

In its letter to the Department of Energy, Korea Hydro reaffirms this position, but says it is submitting the information on its export to the Czech considering the long-standing friendship between Korea and U.S. and the common interests of both countries in nuclear nonproliferation.