Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Team Korea's collaboration with Westinghouse in the U.S. has been activated. President Lee Jae-myung held a summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on the 25th (local time), during which Korea decided to participate in the construction of an 'AI campus' with a scale of 11 GW, involving four large nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMR).
The project is being promoted by Fermi America, co-founded by Rick Perry, who served as the Minister of Energy during the Trump administration's first term. Fermi America announced its collaboration with Westinghouse after deciding on the AP1000 reactor to be used for the project on the 21st.
On the 26th, KHNP, Doosan Enerbility, and Samsung C&T signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for cooperation in constructing an advanced energy complex with Fermi America at the Willard InterContinental Hotel in Washington, D.C.
This project involves constructing an 11 GW private power grid campus on a site of about 23.35 million square meters (approximately 7 million pyeong) located on the outskirts of Amarillo, Texas, which includes ▲ four AP1000 large nuclear power plants (4 GW), ▲ SMR (2 GW), ▲ gas combined cycle (4 GW), and ▲ solar and battery energy storage systems (1 GW). This power will be supplied to a super-large hyperscale artificial intelligence (AI) data center.
Doosan Enerbility has signed an MOU to participate in both the large nuclear power plant and SMR projects. Earlier, Hyundai E&C also signed an MOU with Fermi America on the 31st of last month, cooperating on planning, design, and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract promotion for the project.
U.S. President Trump announced the 'Nuclear Renaissance Policy,' aiming to quadruple the country's nuclear power capacity by 2050, which could see an investment of 100 trillion won in constructing 10 nuclear power plants by 2030. This policy is likely to be led by Westinghouse.
Westinghouse has agreed to cooperate in writing and supporting the review process for the waste management standard (COLA) documents submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in June under its contract with Fermi America. Both companies plan to collaborate to establish a long-term deployment strategy for the site.
Team Korea is also participating in the restoration of the nuclear fuel supply chain promoted by the U.S. KHNP has decided to jointly participate in the investment for the construction of enrichment facilities by Centrus, a U.S. uranium enrichment supplier. Recently, the contract was changed from a flexible conditional contract to a volume determination method, securing additional nuclear fuel quantities.
KHNP and POSCO INTERNATIONAL signed an MOU to invest in the construction of Centrus's enrichment facilities in the U.S. and cooperate in the enrichment business. Additionally, KHNP, Doosan Enerbility, Amazon, and the nuclear specialty company X-energy will work together to commercialize the fourth-generation SMR 'Xe-100' and dedicated fuel (TRISO-X).
An industry official in the nuclear sector noted, 'Collaboration with the U.S. is being strengthened throughout the entire industrial process of design, procurement, and construction of nuclear power plants.'