Na Ki-yong, senior executive vice president and head of Doosan Heavy’s Nuclear Power Business Group, and NuScale Chairman and CEO John Hopkins.pose after they signed an MOU on cooperation in the small modular reactor (SMR) business at a signing ceremony held in Washington DC on April 29. (Photo: Doosan Heavy)

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction (DHIC), experiencing hard times due to the government’s energy paradigm shift to wean the nation off nuclear power, is making a breakthrough by tapping the American market.

Doosan Heavy signed an MOU on cooperation in the small modular reactor (SMR) business with the American small modular reactor developer NuScale.

A signing ceremony held in Washington D.C. on April 29 was attended by Na Ki-yong, senior executive vice president and head of Doosan Heavy’s Nuclear Power Business Group, and NuScale Chairman and CEO John Hopkins.

NuScale, a U.S. small modular reactor leader, is developing SMR plants with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). NuScale will supply SMRs in a SMR project, the 1st of its kind in the United States, in which Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS) wants the development of a 12-module plant at a site at the Idaho National Laboratory, which is expected to begin operation in 2026. The price tag of the project stands at about 3 trillion won.

Under the MOU, Doosan Heavy, a maker of nuclear pressure vessels, is expected to supply nuclear modules, a portion of the most critical and sub-assemblies for the plant planned by UAMPS.

Following the cooperation in the SMR project, according to the deal, Doosan Heavy and NuScale plan to expand cooperation not only in other projects in the United States the latter is consulting with state governments but also overseas markets with high concern on SMR plants such as China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia.

SMRs are a type of nuclear fission reactor which are smaller than conventional reactors and manufactured at a plant and brought to a site to be assembled. Modular reactors allow for less-on-site construction, increased containment efficiency, and heightened nuclear materials security.

SMRs are an all-in-one type of reactors, which do not require a containment building. SMRs can be produced to meet electricity demand by adjusting the number of modules each capable of producing 60MW. NuScale is planning to build a 12-module SMR with a combined capacity of 720MW.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Senior Executive Vice President Na said Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction will successfully supply key systems of a SMR, to be built for the first time in the United States.

Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction has supplied 32 reactors and 114 steam generators to nuclear power plants being built or having already built in Korea, China, and the United Arab Emirates on top of the Plant Vogtle in Burke County near Waynesboro, Georgia.