President's impeachment will not affect Czech Dukovany tender, industry ministry says

The South Korean parliament’s decision to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol should not negatively affect the tender to build new nuclear units at Dukovany, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MIT). The Czech government selected South Korean company KHNP for the project. Its representatives are now negotiating a final contract with ČEZ, which they aim to conclude by the end of March next year. The first reactor is expected to be operational from 2036.

„According to information from our Korean partners, there are currently no signs that the president’s removal from office would have a negative impact on the joint project,“ MIT spokesman Marek Vošahlík told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) today.

South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach the president today, for the second time, after he attempted to impose martial law in the country last week. The decision must still be confirmed by the Constitutional Court within six months. Yoon’s presidential powers and duties will now be suspended, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will temporarily assume his role. If the president is removed from office, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.

In early December, after martial law had been in effect for several hours, KHNP said the contract to build new nuclear units at Dukovany would proceed according to the agreed schedule and process. Industry and Trade Minister Lukáš Vlček (STAN) said at the time that the Czech government was monitoring the situation in South Korea. „We currently have no information whatsoever that would suggest the steps in the Dukovany supplier tender are in any way at risk,“ he said. The tender is primarily a business matter between ČEZ and KHNP, he said, but the political situation and the question of stability also play a role.

According to Trinity Bank chief economist Lukáš Kovanda, Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment is bad news for the Czech government and ČEZ, because the outgoing president had been a strong supporter of building new nuclear units at Dukovany. By contrast, critic of the Dukovany project Lee Jae-myung could become the country’s next president next year. „His Democratic Party says that the South Korean side dramatically undercut its costs in order to win the Dukovany contract,“ Kovanda said in a written statement today.

South Korea’s KHNP won the Czech nuclear tender, with the government favouring its bid over that of France’s EDF in the summer. The government also decided to build two new nuclear units at Dukovany. The first of the new reactors is expected to be completed in 2036. At current prices, the cost of the currently preferred option of building two reactors is 400 billion crowns. The state is also counting on an option to build two more reactors at Temelín in the future.

The tender is still under review by the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), which was approached by EDF and another bidder, US company Westinghouse, with objections to the conduct of the competition. The antitrust authority has issued a preliminary ruling that the tender was conducted properly and rejected the objections. Both companies have appealed the ruling, however. Before that, ÚOHS also prohibited the signing of a contract with KHNP until it reaches a final decision on the matter.