Seoul, June 4 (IANS) A Czech court has cancelled an injunction banning the signing of a multibillion-dollar nuclear power plant contract with South Korea, lifting a major hurdle in the final agreement between the two sides, the Korean company in charge of the project said Wednesday.
The Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) confirmed media reports that the Czech Supreme Administrative Court overturned the injunction that has prevented the European nation’s Elektrarna Dukovany II (EDU II), the entity in charge of the project, and the South Korean consortium, led by KHNP, from signing the final contract to build two new nuclear power units in the Dukovany nuclear power plant.
The move came following EDU II’s appeal last month against a local court decision to issue an injunction temporarily suspending the finalisation of the estimated 26 trillion-won ($18.6 billion) deal at the request of French energy company EDF, a losing bidder in the tender process, Yonhap news agency reported.
The KHNP had initially planned to sign the final agreement with EDU II on May 7 to build two 1,063-megawatt reactors at the Czech power plant, located about 170 kilometres southeast of Prague.
If the deal is finalised, it will mark South Korea’s first overseas nuclear power plant contract since 2009, when the country secured a deal to build the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates.
“The KHNP welcomes the Czech Supreme Court’s decision to reverse the injunction and looks forward to swiftly signing a final contract with Prague,” the Korean company said.
Earlier on May 11, the Czech Republic’s state-run energy company CEZ planned to appeal a court injunction this week preventing it from signing a major nuclear power plant project with South Korea.
The Czech regional court issued an injunction temporarily suspending finalising the estimated 26 trillion-won ($18.6 billion) project, following a legal challenge filed by the French energy company EDF, which lost to the South Korean consortium led by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) in the tender process.
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