South Korea will hold a nuclear cooperation forum in South Africa on Wednesday (South African time) to create a friendly atmosphere to bid for the upcoming orders of nuclear power plants from the African country.

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy in charge of energy affairs said it will hold the forum on nuclear cooperation in Johannesburg, attended by 160 government officials and business figures from both countries.

The move came as South Africa plans to place an order for at least two nuclear power plants within this year, for which the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), France's AREVA, Russia's Rosatom and a consortium of American and Japanese companies are forecast to compete.

South Africa, the only African nation that has nuclear reactors, unveiled an integrated resource plan (IRP), or the long-term project to build nuclear reactors generating electricity of up to 9,600 megawatts by 2030.

The ministry said the two sides will agree at the forum to launch a joint program, under which South Korea will send nuclear experts to South Africa's Umfolozi University to nurture nuclear engineers, saying that training of South African engineers and assistance to develop indigenous nuclear parts would be the main factor to win the order at the upcoming auction.