A U.S. court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by U.S. nuclear energy firm Westinghouse Electric Company attempting to block a South Korean state firm from exporting its nuclear power plants.

The U.S. district court for Washington D.C. on Monday rejected the suit by Westinghouse as it accepted the claim by Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power(KHNP), ruling that the U.S. firm has no authority to sue for the enforcement of Chapter 10, Section 810 of U.S. Federal Regulations.

In October of last year, Westinghouse filed in U.S. federal court against KHNP and its parent company, the Korea Electric Power Corporation, seeking to block the export of the APR1400 nuclear reactor by KHNP to Poland.

The suit claimed that the APR1400 reactor design includes intellectual property licensed by Westinghouse and requires its permission before being transferred to Poland.

At the time, Westinghouse cited Section 810, which designates certain nuclear power plant technologies as subject to export controls and imposes an obligation to obtain authorization or report to the Department of Energy when transferring it to a foreign country.

In response, the KHNP filed countersuits in the U.S. to compel Westinghouse to withdraw the case, asserting that the U.S. nuclear energy act in question grants authority to enforce the law exclusively to the U.S. Attorney General and not to entities as a means of claiming rights through litigation.