Hyundai Engineering announced on December 11 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to export the Korean Small Modular Reactor (SMR) overseas.
At the signing ceremony, held at KAERI's headquarters in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, South Korea, Hyundai Engineering CEO Hong Hyun-Sung and KAERI President Han Joo-Kyu attended the ceremony and signed the business agreement after discussing the direction of future business.
With the signing of the business agreement, the two companies plan to start exporting the Korean System-integrated Modular Advanced Reactor (SMART) overseas in earnest. Hyundai Engineering will be responsible for business development, financing, and EPC (engineering, procurement, and construction) for SMART demonstration and commercialization, while KAERI will provide support for reactor design and licensing.
Hyundai Engineering and KAERI's SMR construction project in Canada is also expected to accelerate. The two companies have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of Alberta, Canada, for the construction of SMRs in Alberta in 2021.
In addition, Hyundai Engineering submitted a site application to the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) for the SMART demonstration project in September this year.
SMART is a 110MW (megawatt) small modular reactor developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) since 1997.
"With this business agreement, SMART will be ready for full-scale overseas export, which will further accelerate our overseas business development," said an official from Hyundai Engineering. "Starting with Canada, which is implementing energy conversion to SMRs, we are also considering entering the business in Uzbekistan, the United States, and India in the future."
Meanwhile, Hyundai Engineering is currently conducting the world's first demonstration project for the fourth-generation Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) in Canada's Chalk River region, solidifying its position as a leader in the EPC business for SMRs and MMRs in Korea and overseas.
