Nation should have rights to maintain power plants it built
Korea faces the danger of losing exclusive rights to run the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates, as its operator decided to break down the long-term maintenance agreement into several short-term projects. The owner, Nawah Energy Company, is considering dividing the 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) maintenance project among Korean, U.S. and U.K. companies instead of giving it to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP). If so, the value of the Korean consortium's portion will go down to around 500 billion won.
The Barakah plant is the first example of Korea exporting nuclear reactors. Accordingly, KHNP was initially expected to win the exclusive right to maintain the plant that could last up to 15 years. Such expectations began to crumble with the Moon Jae-in administration declaration "to denuclearize" the nation's energy mix. Last November, Nawah Energy signed a contract to operate and maintain the plant with a French company, putting the brakes on Korea's exclusive operating right.
Before blaming the UAE, the Moon administration needs to reflect on itself for providing a reason for the Middle Eastern client. The UAE is making the Barakah nuclear plant as the basis of its energy security, but KHNP declared it would permanently shut down 16 reactors in Korea by 2040. In such a situation, would the UAE feel like leaving the long-term maintenance of its nuclear plant to Korea?
When President Moon visited Kazakhstan last month, Korea was invited to take part in the bidding for that country's construction of nuclear power plants in the future. The most powerful person in the Central Asian country mentioned Korea's building of UAE reactors then, which demonstrated Korea's status as a nuclear powerhouse. That is unlikely to last long if Korea stops building new reactors at home, which will destroy the entire industrial ecosystem, ranging from design to construction and maintenance. Few, if any, countries will then leave their projects to Korea.
All this shows why the Moon administration should recognize the seriousness of the situation, and redraw its energy map to let renewable energy and next-generation nuclear plants coexist.
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