South Korea's KHNP Wins Multi-billion-dollar Czech Nuclear Tender

South Korean power giant KHNP has won a tender worth billions of dollars to build two nuclear units at a Czech power plant, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Wednesday.

KHNP (Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company) beat France's EDF in the tender launched in 2022 initially for one new reactor at the Soviet-built Dukovany power plant.

But Prague said later it was seeking bids for a total of four new units: two for each of its two nuclear plants in Dukovany and Temelin, run by the state-owned power group CEZ.

"The Korean bid was better in all criteria assessed," Fiala told reporters.

"We have decided to build two units at Dukovany for now," Fiala said, adding that the government would discuss an option for another two units at Temelin.

Fiala said the price offered by KHNP beat expectations, reaching around 200 billion Czech koruna ($8.65 billion) per unit if two units are built.

"We want to ensure energy security for future generations," Fiala added.

He said the deal was the most expensive one in the modern history of the Czech Republic, adding that Czech companies would participate in about 60 percent of the construction.

The government said earlier it expected to sign a deal with the winner by next March, the construction to begin in 2029, and the first new reactor to be launched in trial operation in 2036.

KHNP and EDF submitted their binding bids for evaluation by CEZ in April, with KHNP offering its APR1000 reactor with an output of 1,050 megawatts designed for European plants.

KHNP's chief executive Jooho Whang said on X "we will do our best to really build the APR1000 reactor in the Czech Republic, on time and within the budget."

CEZ chief executive Daniel Benes said it was more advantageous to build two units at Dukovany because of synergies which cut the price.

"We won't have to do many things twice... but we will not build the two units at the same time, there is a time gap, which is ideally one or two years," he added.

Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Sikela said the government would sign two deals with KHNP.

"One concerns the two units at Dukovany and the other is a binding option to build up to two units at Temelin," he added.

CEZ currently runs six nuclear units at the two plants located in the south of the country -- four with 510-megawatt output each at Dukovany and two with 1,000-megawatt output each at Temelin.

It is also planning the construction of small modular reactors, with the first one due to be installed at Temelin.

Sikela said on Wednesday the two plants account for around 30 percent of the Czech electricity output.

"It will be roughly 50 percent in the future," he added, calling nuclear energy "the pride of Czech energy production".

EDF had lobbied hard for the contracts and French President Emmanuel Macron visited Prague in March to push its bid.

In a statement obtained by AFP, EDF acknowledged the result.

"EDF stands ready to pursue or relaunch discussions with CEZ and the Czech government should the preferred bidder process be modified or readjusted in the coming weeks or months," it added.

The government earlier eliminated US giant Westinghouse from the tender over flaws in its offer and Russia's Rosatom and China's CGN on security concerns.