KHNP begins construction of nuclear power facility in Romania

Vice president of Overseas Business Development at Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) Lim Seung-yeol, left, and senior vice president at Candu Energy Matthew Ross sign an agreement in Toronto, Canda, in this photo provided by KHNP, May 3. Yonhap

The state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) said Tuesday it has begun the construction of a tritium removal facility for a nuclear power plant in Romania.

KHNP won the 260 billion-won ($188 million) project last year at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, some 170 kilometers east of Bucharest, intended to extract tritium from heavy water and store it safely.

The state-run firm said it received regulatory approvals in May, and the construction is scheduled to be completed by September 2027.

"We aim to work closely with the Romanian government, the client and other partners for successful construction," KHNP CEO Whang Joo-ho said in a statement.

The project marks the company's first engineering, procurement and construction project in Europe. (Yonhap)