Photo: Nuclear power plants in Dukovany, Czechia. Credit: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.
When the government-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power 한국수력원자력 won its bid to build Czechia’s new nuclear power plants in Dukovany earlier this year, it was hailed as a major coup. That deal is looking a lot less good in the wake of new reports that KHNP secured the bid by making significant concessions to Westinghouse that will undermine South Korea’s ability to export nuclear technology in the long term.
KHNP and Westinghouse have been locked in a legal battle over intellectual property since 2022, when Westinghouse filed suit in the United States over a reactor design. The companies settled the litigation in January 2025, clearing the way for KHNP to win the Czechia bid.
The conditions of the settlement, which recently became public for the first time, included a pledge by KHNP not to export to North America and Europe (except for Czechia), royalty payments of USD 175m to Westinghouse for each reactor exported, and a mandatory award of USD 650m worth of contracts to Westinghouse for each reactor exported. The contract term is for 50 years, renewable indefinitely.
The deal is contrary to KHNP’s repeated insistence that it has achieved “technology independence,” enabling the company to export nuclear power plants without fear of intellectual property disputes. Democratic Party 민주당 lawmakers harshly criticized the deal after the terms came to light, calling it a “slave contract” and accusing KHNP of sacrificing the future for short-term gains. The Yoon Suk-yeol 윤석열 administration had heavily promoted the bid in a desperate attempt to burnish its miserable economic record.
