US-led Consortium Delegation in Pyongyang for Talks on Nuclear ReactorsA delegation of the US- led Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) arrived in Pyongyang Tuesday for high-level negotiations on the building of two light water reactors for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).Under a deal signed between the DPRK and the KEDO, Washington agreed to provide two 1,000-megawat light water reactors and heavy oil as fuel energy to the DPRK in exchange for a freeze on its nuclear program starting in 1994. The reactors will replace Soviet-designed graphite-moderated reactors. Construction of the first reactor of a LWR power station had been scheduled to be completed by 2003, but delays have pushed the date back several years. And the DPRK has accused the United States of deliberately delaying the 4.6-billion-U.S.-dollar project. The consortium also includes South Korea, Japan and the European Union. South Korea commits to provide 70 percent, or over three billion dollars, of the cost of building the plant while Japan is to put up one billion dollars. The EU also agreed to share the cost, but on a much smaller scale. |
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