NuScale to build Korea’s first SMR in Uljin, home to native Korean reactors

NuScale Power Corp. is expected to build its first small modular reactor (SMR) plant in South Korea in Uljin, already home to Korean native nuclear power plants, in a move to deepen SMR ties between Seoul and Washington and pave the way for Korean energy companies’ ascent in the SMR market set to grow to 630 trillion won ($476.1 billion) by 2035.  

GS Energy Corp., an energy unit of GS Group that is the US SMR leader’s Korean partner, on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding with the county government of Uljin in North Gyeongsang Province to foster the development of a national nuclear hydrogen industrial complex in Uljin.

The main focus of the agreement is the construction of NuScale Power’s SMR plant inside the complex, the Uljin County government announced on the same day.

The latest announcement confirms The Korea Economic Daily’s previous report on Tuesday about the possible foray of NuScale Power’s SMR into Korea.

GS Energy and Uljin County will together aim lead carbon neutrality and promote sustainable economic growth in the face of the global climate crisis while enhancing energy security through their partnership, the county government said.

“We have chosen NuScale Power’s SMR because it is considered the world’s safest SMR,” Uljin County Governor Sohn Byong-bok said in a telephone interview with The Korea Economic Daily on Thursday.

“Our goal is to build an industrial complex centered around nuclear and hydrogen energy by recruiting more hydrogen companies that can benefit from an SMR plant, the primary role of which is to supply eco-friendly power to the industrial complex,” he added. 

WORLD’S SAFEST SMR

NuScale Power based in Oregon, the US, is the world’s leading SMR technology company. Its SMR was the US’ first SMR, which also became the first and only SMR to receive design approval from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2020.

The NuScale Power’s SMR module is built based on pressurized water-cooled reactor technology, enabling its nuclear reactor to stay stable even without power during an accident.

This makes NuScale Power’s SMR much safer than its rivals’ modules, according to NuScale Power.

Once NuScale Power’s SMR is built, it is expected to provide power mainly to run the nuclear hydrogen industrial complex, which has been under construction on a 1,580,000-square-meter land in Uljin since last year for an investment of 400 billion won.   

Uljin County plans to build an SMR plant with six SMR modules frp, NuScale Power, which can generate 462 megawatts of energy, enough to power 900,000 four-person households. Its construction is projected to be completed by 2030 when the industrial park is slated to open.

The construction of its SMR plant in Korea would kick off in 2028, considering that it is projected to take about five years to get approval for its construction from the Korean government.

LEAD TO ADVANCEMENT IN KOREAN SMR TECHNOLOGY

GS Energy is Korea’s No. 1 private utility company, and it has been in discussions with Uljin County to build NuScale Power’s SMR plant in the upcoming industrial complex in the county. Once the SMR plant is completed, GS Energy will operate it.

Other Korean companies are also expected to join the NuScale Power SMR project in Korea.

Doosan Enerbility Co., Korea’s major power plant engineering company, and Samsung C&T Corp., a construction and engineering company of Samsung Group, will likely build an SMR with NuScale Power’s technology and related plant and facilities.

Doosan Enerbility has become a major stakeholder of NuScale Power after investing $140 million, while Samsung C&T and GS Energy, respectively, invested $70 million and $40 million. They together hold the second largest stake of 15% in the US SMR leader.

The deepening partnership between NuScale Power and Korean companies is expected to help Korean companies advance their SMR capability significantly, which could lead to exports of Korean native SMRs in the future.

Hopkins said last week that NuScale Power will provide SMR-related technologies and design while Korean companies will play a vital role in the construction of SMRs.  

Competition to take the lead in the SMR market is intensifying, with NuScale Power at the forefront, followed by TerraPower, X-Energy, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and Holtec International.

Companies from around the world are joining NuScale Power in an SMR race amid growing expectations for the fast growth of the global SMR market to 630 trillion won in 2035 from 14 trillion won in 2027, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

State-run entities in Canada, the UK, France, Russia and Japan have also joined the race.

Uljin is already a major Korean town housing nuclear power plants. The Shin Hanul unit 1, the country’s 27th nuclear reactor located in Uljin, commenced operations in December last year.

The Shin Hanul unit 1 is built based on APR-1400, an advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor considered Korea’s next-generation reactor model.

The Shin Hanul unit 2, located next to the unit 1, is due to be completed in September this year, while two more reactors, the Shin Haunl 3 and 4, are under construction in Uljin.

Write to Jae-Fu Kim at hu@hankyung.com

Sookyung Seo edited this article.