South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co has signed a $1.2 billion business collaboration agreement to provide critical parts and equipment for NuScale’s small modular reactor (SMR) project in the United States.
With the backing of the US Department of Energy, NuScale Power has teamed up with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to commercialise its SMR by 2026. The project would be based in Idaho and consist of 12 SMRs capable of producing 720MWe. Doosan Heavy also agreed to buy a stake in NuScale Power with Korean investors including IBK Securities Co through a unit purchase agreement and plans to invest a total of $40 million in NuScale by the end on 2019.
The cooperation began with a memorandum of understanding in April. Under the business collaboration agreement, Doosan will review the NuScale Power Module's design for manufacturability and will manufacture and supply key components for the first plant based on the design. Strategic cooperation between Doosan and NuScale will extend to global nuclear markets.
NuScale's SMR technology based on pressurised water reactor technology is undergoing design certification review by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Earlier in July, NuScale announced the design had completed the second and third phases of NRC's review six weeks ahead of schedule. NRC expects to complete its review of NuScale's design by September 2020. NuScale has signed an agreement with Romanian energy company Societata Nationala Nuclearelectrica to explore the use of SMRs in Romania and is also investigating the deployment of its SMR technology in Canada and Jordan.
Photo: Attendees pose for a commemorative photo after the signing for Business Collaboration Agreement and Unit Purchase Agreement for SMR deployment on 23 July. (From left to right) Jason Jang, Head of Private Equity Division, IBK Securities, Kiyong Na, CEO of the Doosan Nuclear Power Business Group, John Hopkins, CEO of NuScale Power, and Yongjin Song, DHIC CSO
