Samsung C&T, NuScale ink partnership deal to venture into global SMR market

Samsung C&T Corp., the construction arm of Samsung Group, has signed a partnership deal with NuScale Power, an American private company that designs and markets small modular reactors (SMR), headquartered in Tigard, Oregon.

The South Korean company teamed up with NuScale Power to expand its business and enter the SMR business global market. For the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU),

Samsung C&T chief executive officer Oh Se Chul, and NuScale’s chief John Hopkins met up at the latter’s headquarters in Oregon on Monday, May 9, as per The Korea Herald.

The companies agreed to form a comprehensive partnership for joint SMR market development and expansion. It was added that Samsung C&T has been continuously working on improving its strategic partnership with the SMR firm through equity investment worth around $20 million that was given in 2021 and provided an additional $50 million this year.

In any case, under the agreement, Samsung C&T and NuScale Power agreed to share technologies and skills to enhance their respective companies. They will be doing this by swapping engineers even from the construction phase of building their plant.

Samsung C&T has already constructed 10 nuclear power plants in South Korea and it is still planning to enter the SMR industry and actively engage in projects related to this biz. The projects are the ones that NuScale is working on at the moment with the Romanian government in Europe.

“With this MOU, it is expected that there will be great progress in SMR business development through stronger cooperation between NuScale and Korean strategic investors”, Samsung C&T vice president, Lee Byung Soo Lee, said in a press release. “I think SMRs will play an important role to respond to the demand of carbon-free and climate change.”

NuScale’s CEO added that he and his team are especially grateful to have joined forces with a world-renowned company - the Samsung C&T. Together with Samsung, he said that NuScale will work toward “bringing its groundbreaking, advanced nuclear technology to countries and communities around the world.”

Hopkins went on to add, “Building upon the incredible momentum of this existing partnership, today’s announcement is a key example of smart collaboration among nuclear industry leaders and innovators.”