Korea's small nuclear reactor program faces major hurdles

Industry

Published: 30 Nov. 2023, 15:35 Updated: 30 Nov. 2023, 17:38

Korea's small nuclear reactor program faces major hurdles

Korea's domestically developed small modular reactor model displayed at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, in May 2023. [YONHAP]

Small modular reactors (SMRs), often hailed as next-generation nuclear plants, have hit multiple snags in Korea. Research and development (R&D) budgets for the reactors have been significantly cut for the upcoming year, and a major U.S. project has been canceled over cost concerns.

Korean companies and the government, however, are continuing their push to make SMR a new growth engine, with some suggesting that recent challenges in the U.S. market may give domestic developers an unexpected edge.

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SMRs can produce up to 300 megawatts of power, compared to the average of about one gigawatt that conventional reactors yield. SMRs, which are manufactured as units, are believed to have greater scalability and siting flexibility than their larger counterparts.

Britain’s National Nuclear Laboratory expects the global SMR market to reach up to $500 billion by 2035, while McKinsey estimated that demand for generation capacity of installed SMRs could reach a maximum of 140 gigawatts by 2050.

Korea aims to commercially deploy SMRs by 2030, as many nations including the United States, Canada and France are also racing to take the lead in the emerging market.

However, on Nov. 20, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) — which holds majority in the National Assembly over President Yoon Suk Yeol’s People Power Party (PPP) — passed next year’s budget proposal for the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy without lawmakers from the PPP in attendance.

PPP lawmakers and Energy Minister Bang Moon-kyu boycotted the parliamentary meeting in protest of the majority DP’s budget cut.

The proposal includes a total cut of 181.4 billion won ($140.5 million) that impacts seven nuclear-related budget items. A sum of 33.3 billion won that was allotted to an “innovative SMR” project aimed to domestically develop SMR technologies was slashed, as were 100 million won that had been earmarked for the establishment of an SMR-development support center.

As budgets are cut, criticism toward SMR technology is also on the rise. Energy Transition Forum, a nonprofit, argued that SMRs have been given “a death sentence” in the United States in a release issued on Nov. 26.

NuScale Power, one of the leading SMR developers, and the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (Uamps) recently terminated their Carbon Free Power Project, which had aimed to deploy six of NuScale’s 77-megawatt SMRs in Idaho by 2029.

NuScale and Uamps said that “it appears unlikely that the project will have enough subscription to continue toward deployment,” in a release.

Nuclear experts, however, believe that this might give Korea an opportunity to close the gap with the leading players on the global stage.

“SMR is still in its infancy, so it’s natural that everyone lacks experience,” said Yun Jong-il, a nuclear engineering professor at KAIST.

“We can learn from the challenges that the U.S. project has faced and use it as a lesson when we are deciding on the details of commercial deployment.”

SMR Alliance, which includes some 30 companies, plans to come up with a road map that outlines detailed business strategies and the required regulatory framework for SMR development by early next year. An association that will support the SMR ecosystem is to be launched in the first half of 2024 as well.

“We are building a road map led by private companies,” said a source from the Energy Ministry, adding that “the SMR sector, like the hydrogen industry, will benefit from the launch of a formal association.”

BY JEONG JONG-HOON [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]