South Korea's KEPCO Rescues Largest U.K. Nuclear Project

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--South Korea's state-owned utility Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has emerged as the white knight to rescue the largest proposed nuclear plant in the U.K.

The company is the preferred bidder to buy out NuGeneration (NuGen), the company behind the 3,800-megawatt (MW) Moorside project in the northwest of England, which will be able to supply 7% of the U.K.'s total power. NuGen is 100% owned by Toshiba Corporation (TYO:6502) (Tokyo, Japan) after its partner in the venture ENGIE (EPA:ENGI) (Paris, France) backed out in April. Since then the company has been looking for another partner to invest. For additional information, see April 11, 2017, article - ENGIE Offloads 40% Stake in U.K. Nuclear Project.

"KEPCO is excited about bringing their delivery experience to the U.K. and build on the important nuclear heritage of the U.K.," said KEPCO Chief Executive Officer Hwan-Eik Cho. "KEPCO has been fiercely competing with international rivals and is pleased to reach this significant milestone in the process. KEPCO expects to sign a contract for shares acquisition in early 2018 and bring significant experience of nuclear new build to the U.K."

In October Industrial Info reported that the new chief executive officer of NuGen, Tom Samson, believed that the Moorside project was not going to hit its original 2025 deadline and would be years late. He claimed at the time that the plant "could still be up and running before 2030." For additional information, see October 10, 2017, article - Largest U.K. Nuclear Project Will be Years Late.

Westinghouse was contracted to supply three of its AP1000 reactors for the project, but that will no longer happen as KEPCO plans to use its own Generation III+ reactor, the APR1400. However, unlike the AP1000, the KEPCO reactor has not yet undergone the U.K.'s four-year Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process. This is the key reason why the commissioning of the project will be pushed out to 2030 or further.

Speaking at the recent Nuclear Industry Association's annual conference, Samson addressed the issue. "One of the first things we need to do where NuGen is entirely owned by KEPCO is to then validate a lot of the work we've already done on NuGen to define what our new plan will be," reported World Nuclear News. "That includes a new GDA for the AP1400 and the completion of the Development Consent Order process. On technology, the APR1400 tech has been operational now for one year in Korea and it's a recognised Gen III+ design, and the first Gen III+ design to go into service in the world. On ownership, KEPCO as a utility has the desire to invest and remain in the U.K. for a long time; they have no exit strategy at [the point of a] Final investment Decision - they're here to stay."

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