Hyundai Engineering has signed business agreements with two U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) developers and is seeking to participate in a fourth-generation SMR demonstration project.

Hyundai Engineering announced on the 27th that it has signed separate memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with U.S. firms Nano Nuclear Energy (NANO Nuclear Energy·NNE) and ARC Clean Technology (ARC Clean Technology·ARC).

On the 23rd, Hyundai Engineering signed a business cooperation agreement with NNE at its headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul, for collaboration on the initial micro-modular reactor (MMR) project. The signing ceremony was attended by Hyundai Engineering CEO Joo Woo-jung and NNE CEO James Walker, among others.

NNE is a Nasdaq-listed U.S. company that is developing ultra-small reactors based on high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR). The two companies plan to cooperate on the “KRONOS MMR Initial Project,” which is being promoted to supply heat and achieve carbon neutrality on the campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).

In this project, Hyundai Engineering plans to participate in cooperation on the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of auxiliary reactor facilities, modularization design review, supply chain establishment, and project development.

On the 27th, Hyundai Engineering also signed a business cooperation agreement with ARC for collaboration on an initial SMR project based on a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR). ARC is developing the “ARC-100,” a 100 MW-class sodium-cooled fast reactor.

ARC is working with Battelle Energy Alliance (BEA), the operator of the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) in the United States, to build a commercial demonstration plant with a capacity of about 200 MW on the laboratory site. It is also reviewing plans to expand the project scale to around 600 MW in the future.

Depending on project progress, Hyundai Engineering and ARC plan to pursue cooperation in the EPC field and explore new business opportunities.

However, the current agreements are at a stage where specific scopes and roles for project participation have not yet been finalized, and detailed project plans will be determined through future consultations.

Since the establishment of its Nuclear Power Department in 1985, Hyundai Engineering has carried out a total of 254 nuclear power projects, including designs for 145 operating nuclear power plants, 31 nuclear fuel manufacturing and storage facilities, and 32 research reactors and research facilities.

From 2021 to recently, the company has recorded a market share of about 31% by value in the competitive bidding market for design engineering services ordered by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. In 2007, it became the first Korean construction company to obtain comprehensive design qualification for Q-class nuclear quality facilities.

Overseas, Hyundai Engineering has carried out a project to improve research reactor facilities for the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute and Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. It has also signed a consulting and preliminary design contract for the next-generation research reactor project at the University of Missouri in the United States.

Leveraging these agreements, Hyundai Engineering plans to expand its business scope from nuclear design to EPC and strengthen cooperation in the global SMR market.

A Hyundai Engineering official said, “The accumulated nuclear design technology and large-scale plant project experience have provided the foundation for cooperation with global SMR companies,” adding, “We will use participation in these demonstration projects as an opportunity to further strengthen our full life-cycle capabilities from design to EPC.”

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