Samsung to join NuScale's SMR nuclear plant projects

South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp. will make its foray into the small modular reactor (SMR) market by joining the US-based NuScale Power in building the world's first small modular reactor (SMR)-based nuclear power plant.

NuScale, the world's largest SMR manufacturer, plans to build SMRs in the US state of Idaho for the Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) upon receiving regulatory approval.

In a meeting in Portland, Oregon on May 9, Samsung C&T CEO Oh Se-chul and NuScale CEO John Hopkins agreed to cooperate on the SMR business, for which Samsung would share its relevant technology and know-how, Samsung said on Tuesday.

To venture into the SMR market, Samsung invested $20 million in NuScale shares last year and raised its stake by another $50 million this year. The exact size of its stake was not disclosed.

"We will cooperate with Nuscale not only in producing electricity from SMRs, but also in producing hydrogen using high-temperature steam for practical use," said a Samsung C&T official.

Samsung will also team up with NuScale for another SMR project in Rumania on which the US company has been working. If finalized, it will become NuScale's first deployment of SMRs in Europe. 

NuScale plans to begin the construction of an SMR power plant in Idaho in the first half of 2026 and aims to complete it by 2029. NPM became the only SMR design to be approved by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2020.

Samsung C&T is one of the three South Korean firms that signed a preliminary agreement with NuScale in April of this year to cooperate in building and operating SMR power plants as strategic partners.  

SMRs are a type of nuclear fission reactor and about one-150th the size of a conventional nuclear reactor. They are regarded as next-generation energy providers due to their lower investment costs and fewer carbon emissions than existing large nuclear power plants.

Last month, Doosan Enerbility Co., a major power plant builder, agreed with NuScale Power to supply key materials for SMRs to NuScale.

Write to Hun-Hyoung Ha at hhh@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article