Samsung C&T joins hands with NuScale to deploy SMRs in Romania

Industry

Published: 14 Jun. 2023, 15:44

Samsung C&T joins hands with NuScale to deploy SMRs in Romania

From left: E-Infra CEO Teofil Muresan, Frank Dishongh, president of nuclear project services at Fluor, Samsung C&T CEO Oh Se-chul, Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita and Robert Temple, general counsel at NuScale Power during a signing ceremony held in Bucharest, Romania Tuesday [SAMSUNG C&T]

Samsung C&T will deploy small modular reactors (SMRs) in Romania with NuScale Power, a U.S. SMR developer, and four other participants, the construction and trading company said Wednesday.

Samsung C&T signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday in Bucharest, Romania, with five participants: state-run nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica, infrastructure developer E-Infra and power supplier Nova Power & Gas from Romania, and NuScale Power and engineering company Fluor from the United States.

Romania aims to replace the existing coal-fired power plant in Doicesti with SMRs. The plan is to deploy NuScale Power’s SMR modules with a combined capacity of 462 megawatt-hours and further expand the project in the European region in the future.

Commercial operation of the SMR plant will begin in 2029.

Samsung C&T will participate in the project design as well as engineering, procurement and construction.

SMRs are reactors that generally produce 300 megawatts of power or less, compared to the average of about 1 gigawatt for 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.

NuScale Power, a Portland, Oregon-based SMR start-up, is the first and only company to have received U.S. National Regulatory Commission approval for an SMR design, which was granted in 2020.

Samsung C&T has invested $70 million in New York Stock Exchange-listed NuScale. According to NuScale Power's 8-K filing dated April 29, Samsung C&T controls 3.5 percent of the company's stock.

“For Romania and Europe to accomplish energy conversion and their carbon-neutral 2050 goal, I believe the Romanian SMR project is a very important first milestone,” said Oh Se-chul, Samsun C&T CEO.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]