At the end of 2009, South Korea’s Kepco surged past French, US and Japanese competitors to win one of the world’s biggest nuclear tenders on offer – a $20.4bn contract to develop a civilian nuclear programme for the United Arab Emirates.

A year later, the sector’s more established players are fighting back. After 8 months of bilateral talks, South Korea failed to reach a deal to build a nuclear power plant for Turkey in the Black Sea province of Sinop. Instead, Taner Yildiz, Turkey’s energy minister, has just entered exclusive negotiations with another contender: Tokyo.