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Nuclear Seoul wins contract for UAE

The decision should not intervene before the first quarter of 2010. A consortium of South Korean and U.S., led by the public company Korea Electric Power Corp., won a contract for $ 20.4 billion to build nuclear plants in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The latter will thus become the first Gulf Arab country to generate electricity by nuclear energy.

The agreement was signed in the presence of President of UAE, Sheikh Khalifa Al Nahyan, and his South Korean counterpart, Lee Myung-bak, visited Abu Dhabi on Sunday, said the official news agency Wam.

The winning consortium includes, in addition to KEPCO, the South Korean companies including Samsung, Hyundai, Doosan Heavy Industries, but the U.S. group Westinghouse and Japan's Toshiba.It will include the support "of the design, construction and support the operation of four nuclear power plants" of 1,400 megawatts each, according to a statement from the UAE Agency of Nuclear Energy, Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation ( ENEC), quoted Wam.

In competition with a French consortium

In Seoul, the South Korean Ministry of Economy said that the consortium led by KEPCO has signed a contract worth 40 billion dollars in total, adding that besides the $ 20 billion announced Sunday in Abu Dhabi, a second contract 20 billion dollars would follow for the operation of these four plants.

A UAE official said however that "a contract for the operation of four nuclear power plants has not been assigned yet", referring to the second tranche of 20 billion dollars.

The South Korean consortium, which consisted originally KEPCO, Samsung and Hyundai, was competing with a French consortium led by EDF, GDF, Areva and Total and US-Japan alliance consisting of General Electric and Hitachi. The French had originally been donated favorites. The tender was for the construction of two to six nuclear reactors of the third generation in the richest of the seven members of the federation of UAE. Contacted by Figaro.fr, Areva refused to comment at any time.

Construction should begin in 2012 and "the first reactor will be operational in 2017, had then said the Director General the ENEC, Mohamed Al-Hammadi.