South Korea’s Doosan Heavy Industries To Invest in NuScale’s Small Modular Reactors

May 2, 2019 (EIRNS)—What could be a significant boost for a rapid development of small modular reactors (SMRs), South Korean infrastructure company Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd. signed a memorandum of understanding on April 29 with the leading U.S. developer of small nuclear reactors, NuScale Power, to cooperate on manufacturing parts of NuScale’s SMR concept, with the possibility of a cash equity investment by Korean investors in the project, though specific terms remain to be determined, World Nuclear News reported. Doosan is a manufacturer of nuclear pressure vessels.

The announcement comes before NuScale’s reactor design has received a license from the National Regulatory Commission. NuScale is working through the design certification process at the NRC, which aims to complete its review of the reactor in September 2020. The target completion date for NuScale’s first plant is 2026, Morning Consult website reported April 29.

Through the MOU, whose details are not made public, Doosan may construct part of the NuScale reactor in the works for Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems at the Idaho National Laboratory. “Doosan Heavy can perform forgings that cannot be done in this country for the reactor’s module,” NuScale Chief Executive John Hopkins said, reported Morning Consult.