South Korea and the United States have included "construction of nuclear power plants in the U.S." as part of their bilateral investment project. Both countries have agreed to include in a final memorandum of understanding (MOU) the direction of building eight nuclear power plants locally in the U.S., with the final signing procedure expected to take place as early as the 18th of this month.
According to reports from the National Assembly and relevant government ministries on the 7th, it has been confirmed that the draft of the final agreement document for the South Korea-U.S. bilateral investment project explicitly includes a nuclear power plant construction project.
A key official from the ruling party stated, "Rather than specifying specific details regarding nuclear power plant construction, we understand that both countries have agreed to include the broad framework direction of 'promoting the construction of eight reactors' in their bilateral investment agreement document." The official further explained, "It has been agreed to build eight nuclear reactors, and the formal announcement of the U.S. investment is scheduled to take place around the 18th."
A senior government official also remarked, "The direction of nuclear power plant construction will be included in the agreement content to be announced this month," adding, "We understand that the relevant clause has been mutually agreed upon at the level of 'exploring promotion' between the two countries."
Domestic legal and administrative procedures to finalize the U.S. investment are virtually in the final stage. According to relevant procedures, a report must be submitted to the National Assembly after review by the "Project Management Committee," chaired by the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy, and the "Operation Committee," led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Ministry of Economy and Finance) Jang Gwan-i (Chairman). The first hurdle, the Project Management Committee, examines the commercial viability and strategic and legal risk factors of candidate projects proposed by the U.S. Investment Committee. At the meeting held at the end of last month, it was understood that an in-depth review was conducted on all recently discussed bilateral investment projects, including nuclear power plants.
Furthermore, at the Operation Committee meeting held earlier this month, discussions focused intensively on commercial rationality and methods to secure profitability for each project. A government official stated, "In-depth discussions continued regarding risk dispersion according to project duration and measures to ensure commercial rationality."
Meanwhile, it is reported that in addition to nuclear power plants, major energy and infrastructure projects such as gas combined-cycle power generation and Alaska LNG development will also be included in the final agreement document for this bilateral investment.
in ECONOMY
