SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� South Korea has signed a 3 trillion won ($2.25 billion) deal with a Russian state-run nuclear energy company to provide components for Egypt鈥檚 first nuclear power plant.
South Korea鈥檚 government said Thursday the contract between the state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power and ASE requires the South Koreans to provide turbine-related equipment and construction work for the plant that is being built in Dabaa, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) northwest of Cairo on the Mediterranean coast.
ASE is a subsidiary of Rosatom, a state-owned Russian nuclear conglomerate.
A senior aide of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the negotiations were slowed by 鈥渦nexpected variables,鈥� mainly Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine and the U.S.-led sanctions campaign against Moscow over its aggression.
Choi Sang-mok, Yoon鈥檚 senior secretary for economic affairs, said South Korea provided an explanation to the United States in advance about its plans to participate in the Dabaa project and that the allies will maintain close consultation as the work proceeds.
He said there鈥檚 no possibility that the technologies being supplied by South Korea to the project would clash with international sanctions against Russia.
鈥淎ny kind of issue can be met by various uncertainties, but those have all been resolved as of now, and that鈥檚 why we were able to finalize the agreement,鈥� Choi said.
Yoon鈥檚 office said the participation in the Dabaa project is the country鈥檚 biggest export of nuclear power technology since 2009, when a South Korean-led consortium won a $20 billion contract to build nuclear power reactors in the United Arab Emirates.
Yoon, a conservative who took office in May, has pledged to boost South Korean exports of nuclear power technology, which he insists were dented under the policies of his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in, who sought to reduce the country鈥檚 domestic dependence on nuclear energy.
The Associated Press
