Author: PPD Team Date: 17/01/2025
Westinghouse Electric Company, the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO), and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Company (KHNP) have reached a global settlement agreement to resolve their longstanding intellectual property dispute. This settlement clears the way for the companies to jointly deploy new nuclear reactors worldwide.
The resolution ensures that both Westinghouse and the Korean entities can proceed with confidence in the global nuclear power sector.
Westinghouse President and CEO Patrick Fragman expressed satisfaction with the agreement, stating: “Westinghouse is pleased to reach an agreement with KEPCO and KHNP on this important issue. As the world demands more firm baseload power, we look forward to opportunities for cooperation to deploy nuclear power at even greater scale.”
The settlement marks the dismissal of all legal actions between Westinghouse and the Korean companies, which had been ongoing since 2022. Westinghouse had initiated a lawsuit in the U.S. to prevent KEPCO and KHNP from distributing nuclear technology that it claimed to own. This dispute intensified when Korea Hydro was selected to provide reactors for a project in the Czech Republic in 2021, prompting Westinghouse to raise concerns of potential legal conflict.
The new agreement eliminates legal uncertainties, allowing South Korea to advance and market its nuclear technology innovations globally. The details of the settlement remain confidential.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm commended the agreement, highlighting its potential to foster hundreds of billions of dollars in future cooperative projects and create significant job opportunities in the civil nuclear sector. She further emphasized that the U.S. and South Korea’s partnership on civil nuclear energy could provide a competitive alternative in the global market, adhering to the highest nonproliferation standards.
Source: Power Technology