On April 25th, Doosan Enerbility, a South Korean plant expert of the power and water industry, signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with companies that possess Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology, such as Newscale Power of the US and the Export-Import Bank of Korea, as well as financial institutions.
The event was held in Washington, D.C., and was called the "Korea-US Advanced Industry Clean Energy Partnership." This move has established a strong foundation for the company to target the global market in various fields related to SMR technology.
During the event, the top management of Doosan Enerbility had separate meetings with the top management of NuScale Power and X-energy to discuss future business cooperation plans. These plans included follow-up to the MOU signed earlier in the day.
"The event drew attention from related industries in that the event was a venue for both Korea and the U.S. to declare their vision of targeting the global market together in the SMR field," said an official from Doosan Enerbility.
The separate meeting between Doosan Enerbility and NuScale Power also served as a dinner. Chairman Park Ji-won of Doosan Enerbility and John Hopkins CEO and management of NuScale Power attended the dinner and discussed follow-up measures to the MOU signed on the day.
NuScale Power is seeking to expand into the Asian market, and plans to actively utilize the supply chain in Korea through cooperation with Doosan Enerbility. Doosan Enerbility plans to help establish the foundation for the production of SMRs developed by NuScale Power in the United States by utilizing its nuclear power plant main equipment production capacity and experience.
Doosan Enerbility became the first Korean company to invest in NuScale Power in 2019, and has maintained a close cooperative relationship with domestic investors. They have invested a total of $104 million in equity.
Doosan Enerbility signed a contract with NuScale Power last year to make SMR materials, and they plan to begin building the reactor later this year for use in NuScale Power's first SMR power plant in the US. The Carbon Free Power Project (CFPP) power plant of Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems (UAMPS), promoted by NuScale Power as the first SMR project in the United States, will be built in Idaho with the goal of completion in 2029, with 6 reactor modules of 77MW per unit. The installation will generate a total of 462 MW of electricity.
Prior to the NuScale Power banquet, Doosan Enerbility executives, including Chairman Park Ji-won, had a luncheon meeting with Kam Gaffarian, Chairman of X-energy, a US 4th generation high-temperature gas SMR developer, and Clay Cell CEO, and discussed various topics such as hydrogen production using SMR. They discussed ways to cooperate.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy (DOE) is actively supporting the development of SMRs as a high-temperature gas to respond to the climate crisis. X-energy was selected for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) and provided an initial support of $80 million, and a total of $1.2 billion is planned to be supported for SMR demonstration with X-energy's next-generation high-temperature gas.
Doosan Enerbility began cooperation in 2021 by participating in the SMR production design with high-temperature gas promoted by X-Energy. Last January, they signed an agreement with X-energy for equity investment and supply of key equipment, further strengthening cooperation.
"Based on the experience and technology accumulated through the nuclear power plant business and the capabilities of competitive domestic partners, we will cooperate with SMR developers from various angles and establish ourselves as an SMR foundry that leads the global market," said Doosan Enerbility Chairman Park Ji-won.
