South Korea and India Sign Nuclear Energy Agreement

South Korea and India signed a nuclear energy agreement on 25 July that will permit South Korean companies to enter India’s burgeoning nuclear energy market to construct nuclear power plants.

India’s Department of Atomic Energy Secretary Srikumar Banerjee and the South Korean Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-Hwan signed the agreement in the presence of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Indian President Pratibha Patil after their summit talks in Seoul, The Korea Herald reported.
 
The agreement, the result of years of ongoing discussions, will provide South Korean companies with the legal right to officially participate in India’s massive atomic power plant construction projects.

Under New Delhi’s ambitious construction agenda, India, which currently has 20 power-generating nuclear reactors online and six more under construction, intends to construct nearly 40 more NPPs within the next two decades. Other nations, including the U.S., France, Britain and Russia, are also eager to enter India’s nuclear power plant construction projects.
 
Approximately 35 percent of South Korea’s electricity is generated by nearly 20 nuclear plants. Despite the recent 11 March Fukushima crisis in neighboring Japan, South Korea is confident about exporting its nuclear technology as a new means to support its economy.

Two years ago South Korea won a $20 billion project to construct four atomic power plants in the United Arab Emirates over its above-mentioned rivals, as well as Japan.
 
By. Joao Peixe, Deputy Editor OilPrice.com