UAE delays decision to pick builder for nuclear reactors: official

By Lee Joon-seung
SEOUL, July 28 (Yonhap) -- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has delayed making a
decision to pick companies to build its future nuclear reactors, a government
source said Tuesday.

"Originally, an announcement to pick two consortiums out of three that made the
short list was planned for Monday, but there is a good chance that such a move
may be delayed by a month," Kang Nam-hoon, head of the ministry's resource
development bureau said.
South Korean companies have been eyeing the lucrative contract that could open
new horizons for the local nuclear energy companies.
Despite operating 20 commercial reactors and having the ability to design and
build power generation units without outside help, the country has yet to secure
a deal to export its own reactors.
The official added that Seoul is not acquainted with the details surrounding the
postponement, and declined to comment about speculation that the UAE government
may opt to pick the winner for the project without pitting one consortium against
another.
"The position of the South Korean government is to help meet any new requests
made by the Middle East country and to take active steps to satisfy
pre-conditions related to the building of the reactors," the director general
said.
The project is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars over the next 20
years.
Local experts said that in terms of price competitiveness, South Korea's
"APR-1400" reactor has a distinct edge over rivals. The reactor is based on a
foreign reactor design, although local engineers made clear it can be designed
and made with local components.
The ministry in charge of the country's energy policy, meanwhile, said that the
decision made in early June to delay building the country's first nuclear
repository by 30 months was sound.
It said a detailed analysis by experts from the Geological Society of Korea at
the Gyeongju site, about 371km southeast of Seoul, showed problems in the bedrock
that were not detected earlier.
The problems, however, did not involve active fault lines or so-called fragment
zones that could jeopardize construction.
Seoul originally wanted to complete construction by June 2010, but pushed back
the date to December 2012 because there is a need to strengthen the tunnel that
will be used to deposit the waste in underground silos.
The facility is being built to hold 800,000 drums of low-grade waste products
that include such items as gloves and protective clothing worn at nuclear
reactors and radioactive filters and X-ray byproducts used in hospitals.
yonngong@yna.co.kr
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