- SK Inc., SK Innovation, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, and TerraPower made a strategic collaboration for the SMR field
- An opportunity for a new business by participating in the SMR demonstration and commercialization project led by TerraPower
According to the company’s website news release on April 26, 2023, SK and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have established an agreement for strategic collaboration with TerraPower, a small modular reactor (SMR) design company in the United States, to pioneer the market related to SMRs, which is known to be the next-generation energy sector.
SK Inc., SK Innovation, KHNP, and TerraPower signed a “4th Generation SMR Business Strategic Cooperation Agreement” at the “Republic of Korea-United States Advanced Industry and Clean Energy Partnership” hosted by the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy at The Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C., on the 24th (local time). This event was held to explore future strategic industry cooperation opportunities between Korean and American companies in light of President Yoon Suk-yeol’s state visit to the United States.
Vice Chairman & CEO of SK Innovation Kim Jun, Head of Green Investment Center of SK Inc. Kim Moo-hwan, CEO of KHNP Whang Joo-ho, and President & CEO of TerraPower Chris Levesque, attended the signing ceremony.
The four companies plan to cooperate in the demonstration and commercialization of Natrium, a 4th generation SMR based on the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) that is currently developed by TerraPower.
SK Inc. and SK Innovation jointly invested USD 250 million (approximately KRW 300 billion) in TerraPower in August last year as the two companies had a common understanding that SMRs were carbon-free and environmentally friendly energy sources. With this agreement, SK has secured an opportunity to participate in TerraPower’s SMR project, and pioneer deployment opportunities with our mission to decarbonize global operations.
KHNP has world-class capabilities in the entire nuclear power industry ecosystem, including domestic nuclear power plant operation and the construction of the Barakah nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates. This agreement offers the potential for KHNP to grow its position in North America in the next-generation SMR industry, beyond Asia. In particular, this agreement is the first cooperative relationship between KHNP and a 4th generation SMR company and has significant implications for the domestic nuclear power industry to participate in the future global SMR supply chain.
TerraPower intends to accelerate the commercialization of the Natrium technology with this agreement. TerraPower is building a 345 MW demonstration SMR in Wyoming, the US, with a target completion date of 2030. The US Department of Energy (DOE) is supporting this project with approximately USD 2 billion (approximately KRW 2.6 trillion), which covers half of the technology development and construction costs, as part of the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). PacifiCorp, an electric utility company and subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, has partnered with TerraPower to study the construction of up to five additional Natrium plants within their service territory by 2033. As part of that study, in their recently released Integrated Resource Plan, PacifiCorp has identified the need for two additional Natrium plants in Utah to replace retiring coal generating stations.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that the SMR market will grow at an average annual rate of 22% by 2040, and the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) of the UK expects the SMR market size to reach a maximum of approximately KRW 630 trillion by 2035.
Kim Jun, Vice Chairman & CEO of SK Innovation, said, “The collaboration between SK, KHNP, and TerraPower is of great significance in strengthening the ROK-US nuclear alliance at a time when the importance of energy security is growing.” He added, “Through the cooperation between SK, KHNP and TerraPower in the fourth-generation SMR market, we will help secure the future growth engines of the nuclear industry ecosystem.”
