A court has halted the Czech government’s signing of an agreement for two South Korean-made nuclear power plants after a last-minute complaint from rival bidder, France’s state power company and nuclear operator EDF.
Executives from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a subsidiary of state-run Kepco, and government officials were already en route to the Czech Republic
to sign contracts after last year beating France’s EDF and Westinghouse of the US to the deal to supply two APR1400 plants for the Dukovany site in the south of the country.
However, EDF filed a lawsuit on 2 May to block the contract after losing an appeal with the Czech Republic’s antitrust watchdog UOHS, and a regional court In Brno on 6 May said it had issued a “pre-emptive ruling” to stop the signing. The deal cannot now be signed until the court passes verdict on the case.