South Korea’s KHNP won the lucrative public tender – said to be worth about $18 billion
The Czech anti-monopoly office UOHS has received appeals from France’s EDF and US group Westinghouse over a multibillion-dollar tender for the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Dukovany nuclear power station, a spokesperson said on 27 August.
France’s state-owned power company EDF said on 27 August it had appealed against a Czech decision to select Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) as the preferred bidder for the project.
“EDF seeks to ensure that the tender process adheres to the principles of fair trade and transparency,” the French company said in a statement, adding that its offer remained valid.
EDF’s decision came as US-based Westinghouse also announced it had filed an appeal against the Czech decision.
Westinghouse said it had appealed on the grounds that KHNP did not have a licensing agreement to export its APR-1000 and APR-1400 nuclear power plants, which are based on Westinghouse technology.
That dispute has been the subject of ongoing international arbitration, and Westinghouse said a decision from that process was not expected before the second half of 2025.
KHNP said in a statement it “will respond sufficiently to the dispute with Westinghouse to avoid negative impacts on the Czech nuclear project”.
ČEZ Also Confirms Appeals
The two companies filed their complaints with UOHS over the selection in July of KHNP as winner of the lucrative public tender – said to be worth about $18bn (€16bn) – to build at least two nuclear reactors with the first unit scheduled to be online by 2036.
UOHS confirmed the filings. “The Office for the Protection of Competition received the proposals from American company Westinghouse and from the French group EDF against steps of the tender commencer in the tender process on the construction of nuclear unit/units,” UOHS spokesperson Martin Svanda was quoted as saying by the state-run Czech Press Agency (CTK).
ČEZ, the 70%-state-owned Czech energy company running the tender, said it had also received objections from bidders and was ready to provide answers to UOHS, although it believed it was not possible to challenge the tender on competition grounds due to a national security exception.
The appeals could delay the Czech Republic’s largest-ever energy investment as it seeks to expand nuclear energy as coal-fired power plants are de-commissioned.
The Czech government picked KHNP to build two new nuclear power units, and possibly more, choosing it over France’s EDF in the final tender round.
The Prague government said in January that a bid by Westinghouse did not meet its conditions.
Russia’s Rosatom and China’s China General Nuclear were excluded from the tender on security grounds.
Westinghouse said in a statement on 26 August that the tender required vendors to certify they possess the right to transfer and sublicense the nuclear technology offered in their bids to ČEZ and local suppliers.
Seoul Looks To End Westinghouse Dispute
“KHNP’s APR-1000 and APR-1400 plant designs utilize Westinghouse-licensed Generation II System 80 technology,” Westinghouse said.
“KHNP neither owns the underlying technology nor has the right to sublicense it to a third party without Westinghouse consent.
“Further, only Westinghouse has the legal right to obtain the required approval from the US government to export its technology.”
The Korea Herald reported that South Korea is looking for a solution to end the dispute with Westinghouse.
“The government is discussing with the US government through various channels to support the amicable resolution of the corporate dispute,” the newspaper quoted an official of the presidential office as saying.
“We will maintain close coordination with our US counterparts on the foundation of the ironclad Korea-US alliance, so that the dispute does not harm Seoul's nuclear exports.”
The Czech Republic has six commercially operational reactor units: four Russia-designed VVER-440 units at Dukovany and two larger VVER-1000 units at Temelín.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, in 2022 the six units provided 36.7% of the country’s electricity production.
