South Korea said it will continue discussions with Turkey, after failing to reach an agreement on building a nuclear power plant on that country’s Black Sea coast, Bloomberg reports.
“We could not reach an agreement this time because of differences in issues including electricity sales' prices,” South Korea’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy said today in an internet statement.
The state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. and a Turkish builder agreed in March to bid jointly for the contract to build the plant. Negotiations with the Turkish government have been hit by disagreements over shareholding in the project, Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said on November 8.
The countries will resume talks as soon as possible after Turkey reviews South Korea’s proposal, the Turkish ministry said, without giving details of the proposal.
South Korea also faces competition from Japan, which bid to build the plant in Turkey, CNBC-e television said on October 7, citing Yildiz. The Japanese bid is an “aggressive one,” the Istanbul-based news channel cited the energy minister as saying.
In May, Russia signed a $20 billion contract to build Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, consisting of four reactors, after more than a year of negotiations.
South Korea emerged as a competitor in the global nuclear market after Korea Electric beat General Electric Co. and Areva SA in December last year for an $18.6 billion order to supply reactors to the United Arab Emirates.
South Korea and Turkey pause nuclear plant talks after accord fails on pricing
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