South Korean company KEPCO recently signed a $20 billion deal with the UAE to build four nuclear power plants to be operational by 2020.
The awarding of the contract to a South Korean consortium came as a surprise to many who had assumed that France and the US were the frontrunners, having signed nuclear cooperation agreements with the UAE over the past two years. Signing a nuclear deal with South Korea is not only a wise decision; it is the right strategic choice for the UAE. South Korea is a political lightweight in comparison to states such as the US or France. And unlike the US, South Korea is not in a position to pressure the UAE government on policy matters.
Nuclear cooperation requires long-term commitment; the UAE will be dependent for decades on its partner for securing its nuclear development, from the supply of reactors to their construction, operation, and maintenance. The UAE might have been skeptical about the US as a reliable partner in this endeavor. The discussions in the US Congress on the UAE-US nuclear cooperation agreement (the 123 agreement) had dragged on for months and taught the UAE a good lesson. Some senior members of the US Congress made no secret of their disapproval of the nuclear cooperation agreement with the UAE. While the agreement lays out the general principles of nuclear cooperation between the two states, it does not give the state an automatic right to obtain US nuclear technology unconditionally or without close and continuous monitoring by the US government and the US Congress.
A nuclear cooperation deal requires a reliable, consistent and long-term partner, and there were risks in awarding the contract to the US. After all, the UAE may have considered the possibility that, for one reason or other, a future US administration or a different US Congress could oppose close nuclear cooperation with the UAE. They could delay the construction of the plants or introduce new conditions and demands that would stymie US-UAE nuclear cooperation. Therefore, South Korea as a partner is a safer choice; the only way the US could put pressure on the UAE nuclear program is indirectly, by exerting influence on the South Korean government. Furthermore, there is a rising trend in the GCC to look for partners beyond the US, France and the UK and diversify cooperation to include other states. The GCC states have started to look east — toward Asia — for closer cooperation particularly in the economic field. Therefore, it does not come as a surprise that the UAE decided to award the contract to the South Korean consortium.
Besides the political dimension, there are important technical and economic factors which help to explain the UAE’s decision to choose South Korea for collaboration in the nuclear field. The South Korean company is well qualified and competitive — in terms of experience, technology and price. South Korea has about 30 years of experience in nuclear technology; it has 20 working reactors and more than five under construction. It has no history of major nuclear accidents and has proven that it maintains the highest international safety standards, which is an important factor for the UAE. The South Koreans put forward a proposal that promised to be cost-efficient and enhance UAE’s scientific capacity.
To enhance the strategic cooperation with South Korea even further, both states have decided to forge a partnership beyond nuclear collaboration and have signed cooperation agreements in the field of renewable energy, education and human resources development and communication technology. This only underlines the fact that the UAE decision for a nuclear partnership with South Korea was a well-calculated move based on a number of practical and strategic considerations.
— Nicole Stracke is researcher in the Security and Terrorism Department at GRC, Dubai.
