The government met with NuScale Power, a U.S.-listed Small Modular Reactor (SMR) corporation, to discuss plans for investment in the United States, according to reports on the 11th. An SMR is a small reactor with an electric output of 300MW (megawatts) or less. SMRs are next-generation nuclear plants expected to resolve power shortages driven by rising artificial intelligence (AI) demand and are also one of Korea's main export items.
NuScale Power is the first in the world to obtain standard design certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and is considered the front-runner in commercializing SMRs in the United States. It is also carrying out a project to build SMRs in the United States in collaboration with domestic corporations such as Samsung C&T and Doosan Enerbility.
According to a compilation of reporting by ChosunBiz on the 11th, officials from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources met with the chief executive officer (CEO) and other executives of NuScale Power in Washington, D.C., on the nth of last month. At the meeting, the government was said to have discussed whether to inject capital from a U.S. investment fund being created at a scale of $200 billion into SMR projects that NuScale Power is pursuing with Samsung C&T, Doosan Enerbility, and others.
Last year, NuScale Power won the largest SMR construction project in the United States, ordered by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation's largest public power supplier. Samsung C&T is the EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partner for SMR facilities designed by NuScale Power. Doosan Enerbility also plans to supply key components such as reactor pressure vessels and steam generators needed for SMRs. The project aims to begin operation in 2030.
The first project for a U.S. investment fund being created under last year's South Korea–U.S. tariff negotiations has not yet been finalized. Minister Kim Jung-kwan of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources met with reporters on a business trip to the United States on the 6th and said regarding the first project, "Because the special law on investment in the United States will take effect after June, we will be able to talk about it after that."
Meanwhile, an official at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) said, "Nothing has been finalized regarding the U.S. investment project (with NuScale Power)," and added, "We cannot comment on specific details."