“Team Korea,” the group that won the 27 trillion KRW Dukovany nuclear power project in the Czech Republic, has hit a standstill. A dispute over construction costs between Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and the consortium of Daewoo E&C and Doosan Enerbilty has ended in a breakdown in negotiations. The consortium pushed back, saying the outcome is unacceptable.
On Oct. 29, KHNP announced it was ending talks with the Daewoo E&C-Doosan Enerbility consortium because the two sides could not narrow their differences on key contract terms.
According to KHNP, in the 15 months since the main contract was signed, the two sides held two CEO meetings, 78 working-level meetings and 11 sessions of a dispute-resolution committee without reaching an agreement. They remained apart not only on construction costs but also on the contract structure, the scope of work and whether to reflect the terms of the main contract.
The consortium, for its part, said KHNP “unilaterally announced the breakdown without extending the negotiation deadline” and that it cannot accept the decision. It said KHNP presented a revised contract draft on Oct. 7 and then notified it of the end of talks unilaterally three weeks later. It also said KHNP rejected its request to extend the deadline to Dec. 31, and argued that the lump-sum contract KHNP demanded for total construction costs does not meet global standards.
KHNP quickly rebutted these claims. It said construction of nuclear plants in South Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was also contracted on a fixed lump-sum basis, and that its demand for a lower price was a legitimate adjustment based on verification by an outside expert body. It added that an extension was difficult because it had told the Czech government and the project owner it would wrap up negotiations by the end of this month.
KHNP is now moving to its next steps. It will begin procedures to terminate its joint cooperation agreement with the existing contractors and prepare a bidding process to select a new construction partner. To cover any gap before a new contractor is chosen, KHNP will carry out essential work itself. The plan is to select a new contractor by July next year to keep the site preparation schedule, set for January 2028, on track.
KHNP said the dispute will not damage cooperation with the Czech Republic or the international credibility of Korea's nuclear industry. “We will work closely with the government, the project owner and our partners to minimize the impact on the main contract and push ahead with the project as originally planned, without delays,” a KHNP official said.
The Dukovany project involves building two Korean-designed APR1000 reactors in the Czech Republic. Total project costs are put at CZK 422 billion (about 27 trillion KRW, as of June 2025), with construction targeted to begin in November 2029. When it won the contract, KHNP agreed to deliver the entire nuclear construction project together with its Team Korea partners, KEPCO E&C, Doosan Enerbility, Daewoo E&C, KEPCO Nuclear Fuel and KEPCO KPS. The work covers engineering, procurement and construction (EPC), commissioning and nuclear fuel supply.
