South Korea and Poland enhance cooperation in nuclear

Friday, 14 July 2023

The event - held during a three-day visit to Poland by South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol - was attended by some 350 corporate and governments officials from the two countries, Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) said.

Six of the MoUs signed related to nuclear power generation, including two MoUs signed between Doosan Enerbility and Polish companies on the construction of new nuclear power plants in Poland.

In October last year, Poland's Ministry of State Assets, South Korea's MOTIE, Polish companies ZE PAK and PGE, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) signed a letter of intent to develop plans for Poland's second nuclear power plant, in Pątnów. The plant will comprise of at least two Korean-supplied APR1400 reactors with a total capacity of 2800 MWe.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Hyundai Engineering Company (HEC) has signed a Preliminary Agreement with Poland's Grupa Azoty Zakłady Chemiczne Police SA and the USA's Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation (USNC) on cooperation in the development of nuclear power in Poland, including USNC's Micro-Modular Reactor (MMR) technology.

The parties will cooperate in the implementation of USNC's MMR technology in the chemical industry, construction of an energy system based on small modular reactors (SMRs) and the use of zero-emission nuclear energy to produce hydrogen.

Grupa Azoty Police, USNC and the West Pomeranian University of Technology signed an agreement in March this year to build a nuclear energy research facility based on USNC's MMR technology at Police, a town in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northwestern Poland.

“The agreement we signed today not only significantly strengthens our project by attracting an experienced partner such as HEC, but also strengthens our works towards implementation of nuclear technologies in chemical industry," said Mariusz Grab, President of the Management Board of Grupa Azoty Police. "The document we signed sets the course of action we intend to take to facilitate the licensing of MMR technology in Poland."

"We are proud to continue the ongoing collaboration with Grupa Azoty Group, a leading player in the Polish fertiliser/chemical industry, and USNC, which possesses outstanding micro modular reactor (technology," said HEC CEO Hyeon-Sung Hong. "Our company has extensive business experience in Poland. Building upon this experience, we will combine our acquired expertise and capabilities to generate synergistic effects, contributing to the establishment of green energy in Poland."