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3 companies sign small nuclear reactor MOU with NuScale

Published: 26 Apr. 2022, 17:53

Executives from Samsung C&T, GS Energy, NuScale Power and Doosan Enerbility pose for a photo after signing a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday at GS Tower, Gangnam District, southern Seoul. [GS ENERGY]

Three Korean companies will work with Tigard, Oregon's NuScale Power to jointly develop, manufacture and deploy small modular reactors (SMR) globally.

GS Energy, Doosan Enerbility and Samsung C&T have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with NuScale Power for the construction and operation of SMRs, they announced Tuesday.

The companies expect small reactors to reshape the nuclear energy business.

Irving, Texas-based Fluor owned approximately 80 percent of NuScale according to Fluor's 2021 annual report. The three Korean companies that signed the MOU are also investors, though their shareholdings have not been disclosed.

"The most effective way to achieve net zero carbon emissions is with SMRs," Huh Yong-soo, CEO of GS Energy, said Tuesday.

"NuScale's SMR technology and Korea's capacity and experience in reactor and power generation businesses will create synergies and contribute greatly to the world."

SMRs are generally reactors that can produce 300 megawatts of power or less, compared to the 1,000 megawatts of conventional reactors.

Manufactured as units, SMRs are believed to have greater scalability and siting flexibility. They are also cheaper as they can be mass-produced.

Under the latest agreement, GS Energy, the largest power-plant operator in Korea, will operate the reactors, while Doosan Enerbility will supply materials and equipment. Samsung C&T, a construction company, will build the reactors.

"This MOU has established an alliance that will lead a nuclear reactor industry poised to be reorganized with SMRs at the center," GS Energy said in a release.

NuScale is the only company to have received U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval for an SMR design, which was granted in 2020.

The company's first full-scale SMR will be up and running in Idaho by 2029.

Doosan Enerbility announced Monday that it will start forging material for NuScale Power's Idaho SMR project by the second half and start producing the equipment by 2023.

The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden pledged $3.2 billion for the development of SMRs over the next seven years. Britain's National Nuclear Laboratory predicts the SMR market to reach 150 trillion won in size by 2035.

Korean president-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is determined to bring nuclear energy back as one of the country's key sources of power in order to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

A pillar of President Moon Jae-in's energy policy was the phasing out of nuclear power.

Yoon visited the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in Daejeon last November and toured its SMR facilities.

John Hopkins, president and CEO of NuScale Power, said Tuesday he will work with Korean investors for the next 10 years to provide clean energy to the world.

NuScale is in the process of going public via a merger with a currently-listed special-purpose acquisition company.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [[email protected]]