Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC) announced on April 30 that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for strategic cooperation on a small modular reactor (SMR) project with NuScale Power LLC, a nuclear power technology company based in the United States.

The signing ceremony, held in Washington D.C. on April 29 local time, was attended by Kiyong Na, CEO of DHIC’s Nuclear Power Business Group, and John L. Hopkins, CEO of NuScale Power.

NuScale Power, the leading company in the small nuclear reactor business, is currently developing the SMR with the support of the US Department of Energy. The company plans to supply the small modular nuclear reactor to the small nuclear power project that UAMPS is carrying out in the United States, with the goal of opening it for commercial operation by 2026.

The SMR developed by NuScale Power is an integrated reactor that contains all the core components - including a reactor, steam generator, pressurizer, and main pipes - in a reactor vessel with a diameter of 4.5 m and a height of 23 m. The main design feature consists of a reactor vessel enclosed within a containment shell, thus dispensing with the need for a separate containment structure.

Each module of the SMR can generate 60 MW of power, and the number of modules can be supplied specifically to meet the power demand. The nuclear power plant that UAMPS is constructing is a 720 MW class plant consisting of twelve modules.

The nuclear power plant circulates cooling water through natural convection without requiring a coolant pump. Furthermore, the design is considered to have greatly enhanced safety as the SMR is immersed in an underground water tank that serves as a source of cooling water in the event of a cooling water system failure during an accident.

With the signing of this MOU, DHIC plans to review the manufacturability of NuScale Power’s SMR design and supply the NPM,* the core component of the UAMPS nuclear power project. In addition, both companies plan to expand the partnership to overseas markets in China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia, where interest in the SMR is very high, as well as to US states, such as Idaho, Washington and Wyoming, for which NuScale Power is engaged with state governments about additional constructions.
*NPM (NuScale Power Module): The core component of the SMR developed by NuScale Power, which is equivalent to a nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) that generates steam using nuclear fuel in a nuclear power plant.

“We can greatly reduce both the construction period and the cost as the integrated units can be built and assembled at the factory before installing them at the actual construction sites,” said an executive of NuScale Power. “The module can be used not only as a new power generation source but also as a backup power source for renewable energy sources such as wind power.”

“DHIC intends to utilize its extensive know-how and experience in nuclear power projects to successfully supply the core component of the SMR being constructed for the first time in the United States,” said CEO Kiyong Na. DHIC is also considering investing in NuScale Power with a financial investor from Korea to enhance strategic cooperation.

DHIC has supplied 32 nuclear reactors and 114 steam generators to nuclear power plants in Korea, China, and the UAE, including the nuclear components for Plant Vogtle Units 3 and 4, which are currently under construction in the United States.