U.S. nuclear power company Westinghouse Electric Company has issued a formal complaint with the Czech government, opposing Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power’s (KHNP) recent success in securing a nuclear power plant construction project in the Czech Republic. KHNP was selected as the preferred bidder in a 24 trillion won tender for the Czech Republic’s Dukovany nuclear power plant project last month, but the follow-up process is facing delays due to U.S. objections.
Westinghouse announced that it filed an appeal with the Czech Anti-Monopoly Office to protest the decision by CEZ to select KHNP as the preferred bidder for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Dukovany power plant on August 26. “The tender required vendors to certify they possess the right to transfer and sublicense the nuclear technology offered in their bids to CEZ and local suppliers,” the company said in a press release. "
“KHNP’s APR1000 and APR1400 plant designs utilize Westinghouse-licensed Generation II System 80 technology, but KHNP neither owns the underlying technology nor has the right to sublicense it to a third party without Westinghouse’s consent,” Westinghouse added.
Westinghouse has been involved in South Korea’s nuclear power development since the construction of the Kori 1 reactor and has transferred various nuclear power technologies to Korea. The nuclear reactor designs that Korea exports were developed based on Westinghouse’s technology. According to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) guidelines, established in 1978, South Korea is required to obtain Westinghouse’s consent when exporting nuclear power plants that utilize U.S.-origin technology overseas.
“In addition to unlawfully using U.S. technology, deploying the APR1000 over Westinghouse’s AP1000 reactor would also export the creation of tens of thousands of Czech and U.S. clean energy jobs to Korea, including 15,000 jobs from Westinghouse’s home state of Pennsylvania,” warned the company.
Westinghouse added that it will “continue to vigorously defend its intellectual property rights and compliance with U.S. export control laws via the ongoing international arbitration and U.S. litigation, respectively.”
The company filed a lawsuit against KHNP in the U.S. in October 2022, arguing that the nuclear power plant technology South Korea plans to export is Westinghouse’s proprietary technology and, therefore, subject to U.S. export control regulations. Although a U.S. District Court dismissed the case in September 2023, Westinghouse has appealed the decision.
The South Korean government is expected to send a delegation to negotiate with Westinghouse as it seeks to resolve the dispute ahead of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s planned visit to the Czech Republic next month. However, with Westinghouse taking a hardline stance, resolving the conflict may prove challenging, according to industry insiders.
