South Korea’s Hyundai E&C has hosted a “Large-Scale Nuclear Technology Seminar” in Dallas, Texas. The event featured discipline-specific and field-specific professional sessions on large-scale NPP construction to increase local understanding of nuclear projects. The seminar also served as a platform to enhance partnerships with leading local companies in support of the four-unit AP1000 NPP project planned at Fermi America’s Project Matador – the 11 GWe private energy campus being developed outside Amarillo, Texas.
The event attracted representatives from approximately 100 companies, including Texas-based construction firms as well as key stakeholders from the US nuclear power and construction industries. These included representatives from US-based ENR (Engineering News-Record) contractors, with whom Hyundai E&C has signed a series of partnership agreements over the past year to strengthen local collaboration.
The seminar shed light on nuclear construction standards, mechanical installation disciplines, modular construction concepts and procedures, nuclear-specialized construction works, heavy lifting, nuclear plant building and workforce development and training.
Mesut Uzman, Fermi America Chief Nuclear Construction Office & CEO of Fermi Nuclear, stated: “AI-driven load growth is accelerating faster than most people realise. The next decade will be defined by who can build power infrastructure fast enough to support AI and industrial growth. Hyundai E&C brings the industrial scale and execution discipline needed to deliver significant energy projects like Fermi America’s Project Matador. We see this partnership with Hyundai E&C as a critical step toward rebuilding US energy capacity.”
Hyundai E&C noted that years of suspended nuclear construction have led to a contraction of the domestic nuclear workforce and supply chain in the US, creating challenges for the execution of large-scale projects. The company, therefore, “plans to use this seminar to enhance industry-wide understanding of nuclear power projects and to secure close cooperative relationships with highly capable companies, thereby strengthening its competitiveness in the local market”.
Following its front-end engineering design (FEED) contract signed with Fermi America in 2025 for the four AP1000 nuclear units, Hyundai E&C has been focusing on site layout planning, cooling system evaluations and cost and schedule estimation. It looks to strike an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) deal in the first half of this year.
“We hope that this seminar, which shared practical knowledge and know-how across the full range of large-scale nuclear construction disciplines while showcasing Hyundai E&C’s global expertise and technical capabilities, will contribute to increasing participation by leading local construction companies in nuclear power projects,” said a Hyundai E&C official.
“As Hyundai E&C and Fermi America continue ongoing discussions to explore a wide range of cooperation measures, including the pursuit of a large-scale nuclear EPC project, we will strive to go beyond simple project execution and establish a sustainable cooperation framework for NPP construction in Texas and across the US.”
