Daewoo E&C announced on Oct. 25 that it is promoting its entry into the Eastern European nuclear power plant market in earnest.

Demand for nuclear power generation has been growing again in Europe recently due to energy price uncertainties, increasing orders of nuclear power plants and related fields. Daewoo E&C has been steadily preparing to enter the Eastern European nuclear power market by participating as a member of Team Korea with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) in the construction of commercial nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic and Poland. The Czech Republic and Poland are currently proceeding tender processes for the commercial nuclear power plants.

Daewoo E&C is also promoting its participation in the construction of a low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) repository in Slovenia. One silo and ancillary facilities will be constructed at a site near Krsko Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia using the shallow cave disposal method. The project for which invitations to a bid were issued in June is expected to select a preferred bidder by the end of this year.

Following the completion of the first phase of a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository in Korea, Daewoo E&C is carrying out the second phase of the project and is also working on a basic design for the third phase. It emphasizes that it has secured unrivaled design and construction technology and plans to lay the foundation for landing an order for Krsko Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 order through its entry into the Slovenian LILW repository project.

Daewoo E&C is also promoting its participation in a bid for the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda in Romania. Cernavoda Units 1 and 2, now in operation, are nuclear power plants with heavy water nuclear reactors. The heavy water nuclear reactors are the same type as the heavy nuclear water reactor at Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant, which is the only heavy water nuclear reactor in Korea, so Daewoo E&C has already secured technical competitiveness in future bids, experts say.

As the Romanian government is also promoting the construction of small modular reactors (SMRs), Daewoo E&C plans to actively enter the Romanian market. In particular, demand for SMRs in the Eastern European market is expected to gradually expand, so the builder is also promoting alliances with Korean and foreign business partners. Poland, Estonia, and the Czech Republic are the main countries into which Daewoo E&C is expected to make a foray. Daewoo E&C secured supply chains in each of these countries and opened a branch office in Poland in October.