[Reporter’s Notebook] Hanwoolwon Waited an Hour Beforehand at Czech Side’s Request to “Meet at Dawn”

"When I requested a meeting with a senior official of the Czech government, they said, 'I have a meeting at 7 a.m., so I only have time at 6:30 a.m. Can you come then?' So I agreed, and our team waited from 5:30 a.m., an hour before the appointment, to meet the senior official. Later, I heard that this official mentioned the incident in a public setting and said, 'Korean people are amazing.' Hearing that made me think, 'Now we've somewhat won over (the Czech side).'"

This is a memorable moment recalled by Hwang Ju-ho, President of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), during the Czech nuclear power plant bidding competition. KHNP submitted its final bid to the Czech Strategic Company at the end of April this year. The anecdote introduced by President Hwang took place in mid-June, when the Czech Power Company was reviewing the final bids from KHNP and ?lectricit? de France (EDF), and governments and related companies from each country were engaged in an all-out effort.

KHNP held the "Korea-Czech Nuclear and Cultural Exchange Day" event, inviting 110 companies from both countries and over 400 key stakeholders. At this event, a senior official from the Czech government expressed admiration for Koreans by referring to past cases with KHNP as "amazing Korean people." President Hwang recalled, "Since you never know until you open the lid, we had no choice but to pursue it with genuine sincerity until the end," adding, "But at that time, I felt, 'They are starting to trust us.'"

France, a competitor leading the European Union (EU) Nuclear Alliance, emphasized that it is a European country like the Czech Republic and adopted a strategy of "We cannot give up the European home turf. We are family." Team Korea countered with strengths based on experience from projects such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) nuclear power plant, emphasizing "on-time within budget" construction. The anecdote shared by President Hwang reflects the Czech side's indirect expression of trust in "diligent Korea."

Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Deok-geun pointed to January this year, when the Czech government announced plans to increase the project scale from one nuclear reactor to up to four, as the turning point in the bidding competition. At the end of January, the Czech government significantly expanded the nuclear power plant construction plan from one unit to four and abruptly eliminated the U.S. company Westinghouse. At the time, concerns outweighed expectations. The atmosphere shifted from "Korea, a non-European country, might win one unit" to worries that "winning four units might be difficult."

Minister Ahn said, "We thought we might be eliminated right at the start, but after ups and downs, we overcame that hurdle and officially entered a two-way competition, changing the mode of the game." On the 17th, the Czech government selected KHNP as the preferred negotiator for the new nuclear power plant construction project. Ultimately, the increase in project scale to up to four units highlighted Team Korea's strength in "cost-effectiveness."

Challenges remain to reap the fruits of nuclear power plant exports. The project cost for Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant Units 5 and 6 is about 200 billion Czech koruna (approximately 12 trillion KRW) per unit, totaling 400 billion koruna (about 24 trillion KRW). The contract amount with KHNP will be finalized through future negotiations. The Czech government will decide on the construction of Temel?n Units 3 and 4 based on electricity demand and the progress of the Dukovany project. KHNP is also the preferred negotiator for the additional reactors. We support both the Czech Republic and Korea to do their best until the end so that both can achieve a win-win outcome.