HD Hyundai is teaming up with global small modular reactor (SMR) leaders to explore the offshore nuclear market.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), a shipbuilding intermediate holding company of HD Hyundai, recently held a technology exchange meeting to jointly develop molten salt reactors in the state of Washington in the United States with TerraPower, Southern Company, and Core Power of the United Kingdom.
The molten salt reactors HD KSOE is jointly developing are one of the fourth-generation reactors. It uses salt rather than water for cooling and is said to be safe and efficient, making it ideal for offshore nuclear power generation.
In November 2022, HD Hyundai invested US$30 million in TerraPower, marking its first major foray into next-generation energy technology. Chung Ki-sun, vice chairman of HD Hyundai also met with TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque and other executives at CES 2023 in the U.S. in 2023 to discuss joint SMR projects.
Through this joint research, HD KSOE plans to drive the growth of the offshore nuclear power market which is attracting attention as a next clean energy market.
HD KSOE will dispatch an SMR research and development team to TerraPower in the United States beginning from this March and will continue to cooperate with the company in various fields including nuclear-powered vessels and new nuclear power projects. In addition, the company plans to actively work with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and major global classification societies (ABS and LR) to establish a system for the application of offshore nuclear reactors.