Samsung C&T’s Engineering & Construction Group is partnering with a Polish private small modular reactor (SMR) developer to enter the SMR markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

Samsung C&T announced on the 14th that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Polish SMR developer Synthos Green Energy for cooperation on SMR development in Europe. The agreement aims to jointly review and develop SMR projects being promoted in Central and Eastern Europe, with a focus on Poland. The signing ceremony was attended by Michał Sołowow, Chairman of Synthos Green Energy, CEO Rafał Kasprów, and Oh Se-chul, President and CEO of Samsung C&T’s Engineering & Construction Group.

Synthos Green Energy is pursuing its SMR business based on the “BWRX-300” technology developed by GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a joint venture between GE of the United States and Hitachi of Japan. The BWRX-300 is a 300-megawatt (MW)-class SMR that is an improved version of a boiling water reactor (BWR), and is currently under construction in Ontario, Canada, as the first such project in the Western world. Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall has selected the BWRX-300 as the final candidate technology for the SMR project at the Ringhals nuclear power plant site.

Synthos Green Energy is pursuing an SMR project of up to 24 units, starting with the construction of Poland’s first SMR power plant in the early 2030s, and is considering expanding its business in the future to Central and Eastern European countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania.

Under the MOU, the two companies plan to cooperate in the early stages of the Polish SMR project, including feasibility studies, site surveys and environmental impact assessments. Based on this, Samsung C&T plans to review whether it can expand the scope of cooperation to cover Synthos Green Energy’s broader SMR projects across Central and Eastern Europe.

Samsung C&T has been gradually building experience in SMR projects in Europe. In June 2023, it signed an MOU with Romania’s state nuclear company, U.S.-based NuScale Power, Fluor and two other companies to cooperate on Romania’s SMR project and expand SMR business in Europe. In July 2024, it launched the front-end engineering design (FEED) for the Romanian SMR project, giving concrete shape to the project.

In April of the same year, it signed an MOU with Estonian private nuclear developer Fermi Energia for cooperation on Estonia’s SMR project, and in December it agreed to cooperate on SMR project development in Sweden with Swedish private SMR developer Karnfull Next AB. With the latest agreement in Poland, the scope of its cooperation in Europe has expanded from Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea coast to Central and Eastern Europe.

Previously, in October last year, Samsung C&T signed a strategic partnership with GE Vernova Hitachi to expand SMR projects in Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East, and held an SMR supply chain event in Sweden. Samsung C&T stated that, through the latest cooperation in Poland, it has secured a foundation for reviewing SMR projects in Central and Eastern Europe, following Sweden.

Oh Se-chul, President and CEO of Samsung C&T’s Engineering & Construction Group, said, “The cooperation with Synthos Green Energy will serve as an opportunity to establish a foundation for entering the Polish and Central and Eastern European markets.” Synthos Green Energy CEO Rafał Kasprów said, “By combining Samsung C&T’s global nuclear power project experience with our SMR business capabilities, we look forward to advancing clean energy projects in Europe.”

Popular News