KHNP President Chung Visiting Czech Republic
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Corp. (KHNP) has set out to get orders for new nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic is planning to set in motion the process of building new nuclear power plants following the formation of a new government in July. By the end of this year, it will formulate the business and investment model for the project, and issue a bidding guide in the first half of next year.
Chung Jae-hoon, president of KHNP, will visit Prague, Czech Republic on August 15 (local time) and meet Jan Stuller, the special envoy for nuclear energy of the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, and top officials of the CEZ Group, a utility conglomerate owned by the Czech government. They will discuss ways to cooperate in the field of nuclear power between Korea and the Czech Republic. At this meeting, Chung will express his intention to participate in the new nuclear power plant project of the Czech Republic. In addition, KHNP is signing an MOU with UJV Rez, a leading Czech provider of services for nuclear and conventional energy, industry and healthcare, on August 17 to expand cooperation with the Czech nuclear industry. Through the MOU, the two organizations plan to promote cooperation in various fields such as nuclear power plant operation, maintenance, design, and R&D.
Chung will also hold talks on Aug. 16 with the chairman of the Dukovany regional council, the association of local governments in the area where new nuclear power plants will be constructed, the mayor of Dukovany, and the chairman of the Vysocina Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
As part of its effort to enhance its image and lay the foundation for winning the nuclear project, KHNP will carry out volunteer activities, such as caring for the elderly and the disabled, repairing soccer fields and ice hockey rinks, and introducing Korean culture, in the city of Trebitsch near the nuclear power plant site, from August 6 to 19. It undertook such activities last year as well.
In addition, KHNP will strengthen cooperation with Czech institutions in order to raise awareness of the Korean nuclear power technology in the Czech Republic and to secure the technology required to meet the needs of the client company.
"The Czech Republic is the market that KHNP considers to be a bridgehead for the advancement to Eastern Europe,” said Chung. "It will not be an easy challenge, but we will mobilize all our capabilities, including our experience of building nuclear power plants over the past 40 years, to win the project."