An existing agreement between Korea Electric Power Corp. and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power on one side and U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co. (WEC) on the other — a pact that has barred the Korean-designed APR1400 reactor from the U.S. market — has been revised as part of Korea's $350 billion investment package in the United States. Westinghouse objected on the grounds that it would have to compete with the APR1400 in its home market, but the U.S. government concluded that Korea's construction capabilities were needed to expand nuclear power and asked the company to amend the deal.
According to political sources on the 22nd, the government reported at a full meeting of the National Assembly's Trade, Industry, Energy, SMEs and Startups Committee that day that it is in talks with the U.S. side on a "nuclear framework" combining the construction of eight large reactors in the United States with an equity investment in Westinghouse. The eight comprise six of Westinghouse's AP1000 reactors and two Korean APR1400 units.
The key point is the decision to rework the settlement agreement (SA) signed by KEPCO, KHNP and Westinghouse, which will open the way for the APR1400 to enter the United States. The SA was the document the three companies signed to end their dispute over nuclear intellectual property rights. At the time, the two sides set out the conditions that would apply to future reactor exports, including which markets were open for exports, technology fees, and the supply of services, equipment and nuclear fuel. Under that agreement, construction of the APR1400 inside the United States has been restricted.
The amendment is expected to allow the construction of up to two APR1400 units in the United States, limited to nuclear projects that draw on the strategic investment in the U.S. The move creates an exception to the existing agreement, letting a Korean-designed reactor reach the U.S. mainland for the first time.
The negotiations were not smooth. Westinghouse is said to have strongly resisted the entry of the APR1400, which could compete with the AP1000, its flagship reactor. The U.S. government took a different view. Washington is said to have concluded that a sharp expansion of domestic nuclear construction would be impossible without the participation of Korea, which has recently built large reactors in practice.
