State-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. won the contract to build two multibillion-dollar reactors in the Czech Republic, beating out rivals and paving the way for Korean companies to potentially close a raft of deals across the continent.

“Now a bridgehead has been created through which we can export nuclear power plants to Europe,” Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Ahn Duk-geun said after the victory.

The project, once completed, would put the Asian nation in pole position to build reactors in Europe, which is turning to nuclear power again to wean itself off expensive fossil fuels and meet ambitious pollution-reduction targets. Thanks to their cost competitiveness and a decades-honed export strategy, the Koreans are beating rivals mired in budget overruns and delays, or geopolitical and trade tensions.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear is conducting a feasibility study for a nuclear power plant in the Netherlands, while Sweden’s Vattenfall AB is considering using Korean technology. The country is also in talks to supply reactors to the UK, Poland and Slovenia, putting it on track to meet the government’s pledge to export 10 units by 2030.

Its rise will not come without a fight. U.S. President Joe Biden signed a bill this week that promises to revive the U.S. nuclear industry and even ease the export of technology. Westinghouse Electric Co. has filed a lawsuit saying South Korea is using its intellectual property and should be banned from sharing it. The U.S. company warned it could take legal action against the Czech deal.

Much of South Korea’s rise has been due to its ability to deliver reactors as a complete package – from equipment, construction and fuel supply to commissioning, maintenance and even financing – while largely meeting deadlines and containing costs.

“A nuclear power plant is so much more than a reactor,” said Mark Nelson, managing director at Radiant Energy Group, a consulting firm. “It’s civil engineering, it’s blueprints, it’s crane operators. And Korea has that,” he said. “They can offer the most competitive package,” he added.

South Korea was chosen to build the reactors in the Czech Republic for 400 billion crowns (US$17.3 billion).

In contrast, Electricite de France SA said earlier this year that two reactors at Hinkley Point in the UK would cost as much as £35 billion in 2015, equivalent to US$45 billion at current exchange rates and would take several years longer than planned. In the US, Southern Co’s Vogtle nuclear plant came in more than US$16 billion over budget and seven years behind schedule.

Seoul’s nuclear export strategy has been decades in the making. In 1987, the state-owned company agreed to a technology transfer with U.S.-based Combustion Engineering, then developed the design to build its own reactor. Since then, it has built 28 reactors domestically, with four more scheduled to come online by 2040.

The first export of a reactor, to the United Arab Emirates, was announced in 2009. The Arab world’s first commercial nuclear power plant was delayed and over budget by 25%, but that didn’t stop South Korea from exporting.

“Korea has a full domestic, experienced supply chain,” said Jeremy Gordon, an independent nuclear consultant. “And their industry has the security of a government that is strategically committed to nuclear, for energy security, economic and climate reasons, which gives the entire Korean nuclear ecosystem the confidence to invest.”