Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power is pushing for the establishment of a joint venture (JV) with the U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) corporation ARC Clean Technology. KHNP is also putting effort into the North American market, discussing JVs with Westinghouse.
According to the nuclear power industry on the 22nd, KHNP had negotiations regarding the JV with ARC executives in Washington, D.C., last week. Both sides have agreed on establishing the JV. They are currently in the stage of coordinating specific investment amounts, governance structures, and board compositions, ahead of drafting a preliminary agreement on major contract terms.
KHNP has a policy to proactively secure the fourth-generation nuclear power technology following the development of the third-generation innovative SMR (i-SMR).
ARC is a corporation developing the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) model 'ARC-100'. SFR is next-generation nuclear power technology that uses liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water. It is assessed to have the highest commercialization potential among the fourth-generation nuclear technologies.
U.S. TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, is also developing SFR. KHNP is pushing for investments in TerraPower as well. Liquid sodium has a higher boiling point than water, posing almost no explosion risk. Additionally, it can absorb a lot of heat, which can increase power output.
ARC has completed the basic design of the ARC-100 reactor and has applied for design permits in both Canada and the United States. ARC, headquartered in the U.S., has a branch in Canada. It plans to build four ARC-100 (100 MW class) units at the Point Lepreau site in New Brunswick, Canada, where existing nuclear plants are located. The goal is to begin commercial operation by 2030.
KHNP is in contact with the U.S. nuclear power industry in succession ahead of the Korea-U.S. summit scheduled for the 25th. KHNP discussed a business cooperation memorandum of understanding (MOU) with executives from the U.S. SMR corporation X-Energy last week. DL E&C and Doosan Enerbility have each invested $20 million (approximately 25 billion won) and $5 million (6 billion won) in X-Energy, respectively.
On the 26th (local time), a memorandum of understanding will be signed with the Electric Power Research Institute of the U.S. This is intended to learn about U.S. technological trends ahead of cooperation with the U.S.
A nuclear power industry official said, "Recently, KHNP has been increasing contacts with the North American nuclear network. The role of 'Team Korea' is expected to grow in the U.S. nuclear renaissance project."