Serbia inks nuclear, hydrogen agreements with South Korea KHNP

Serbia’s mining and energy ministry said it signed two memorandums of understanding with South Korea’s state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) on cooperation in nuclear energy and hydrogen.

The nuclear energy memorandum seeks to help train Serbian nuclear experts and facilitate knowledge and technical exchange, the ministry said on Tuesday at the Korean-Serbian Energy Development Forum in Belgrade.

The hydrogen memorandum provides for joint assessment of pilot green hydrogen projects in Serbia, with technical and human resources support, and knowledge exchange on the full hydrogen cycle and supply chain, the ministry said.

In November, Serbia’s parliament reversed a ban on the construction of nuclear power plants (NPP), which had been in force since 1989. In addition, the energy ministry hired in September 2024 French state-owned energy firm Electricite de France (EDF) and engineering consultancy Egis Industriesa to draw a preliminary technical study of the potential use of nuclear power in Serbia.

Earlier this year, the head of Serbian state-controlled electricity producer EPS, Dusan Zivkovic, said that the company had launched an analysis to determine whether the usage of hydrogen production and storage facilities and fuels based on hydrogen would be a viable option to expand its capacities.

In October, German development bank KfW told SeeNews it was looking into possibilities to support Serbia’s green hydrogen sector, with the aim to stimulate a local hydrogen value chain and support Serbia’s decarbonisation efforts. In addition, the German ministry of economy and climate action has approved 3.5 million euro ($4.1 million) in 2022-2026 funding to local renewable energy firm Leipziger Energiegesellschaft for the construction and operation of an integrated hydrogen pilot plant in Serbia, as part of a project called HyDSerbia.

KHNP, a subsidiary of the Korea Electric Power Corporation, operates in Romania. In December, it won a tender as part of a consortium to refurbish Unit 1 of Romania’s sole NPP Cernavoda. Prior to that, Nuclearelectrica, which operates Cernavoda, and KHNP had started the construction of a tritium removal facility at the NPP.