Korea Wins $40 Bln Nuclear Plant Deal From UAE

A Korea consortium led by the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. Sunday won a contract to build four nuclear power plants in the United Arab Emirates for 40 billion U.S. dollars.

Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. officially announced the consortium as the successful bidder at 2:15 p.m., citing Korea’s excellence in safety and operational capability.

The consortium comprised Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp. and Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, and Westinghouse Electric of the U.S., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp. of Japan. It beat out the French nuclear group Areva and a consortium of General Electric of the U.S. and Hitachi of Japan.

The contract will allow Korea to not only design and build four 1,400-megawatt light water nuclear reactors but also provide operational assistance and fuel after completion of construction.

The project is the largest overseas deal Korea has secured, including six times larger than the previous record holder, a man-made canal in Libya worth 6.3 billion dollars.

The down payment of the contract is almost 20 billion dollars, equivalent to the export of one billion units of the Hyundai NF Sonata and 180 massive oil tankers. The deal is also expected to create 110,000 jobs over a decade of construction.

In addition, Korea is expected to win additional orders worth about 20 billion dollars over 60 years after construction through operational assistance, according to officials from the government and the Korea Electric Power Corp.

yongari@donga.com