TerraPower and Seaborg sign Korean cooperation agreements
The Governor of South Gyeongsang Province has signed agreements with TerraPower and Seaborg for cooperation in the design and production of next-generation nuclear power plants and research and development in the region.
The agreements were signed at the Gyeongnam Small Modular Reactor International Conference, with the province saying it hoped the agreements would strengthen the region's position in the sector and provide opportunities to participate in technology development.
Governor Park Wan-soo said in his opening remarks, at what was the first such conference: "Recently, cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence and big data are developing rapidly, and the demand for electricity is increasing worldwide. In the midst of these changes, small modular reactors, or SMRs, a carbon-free energy source that is stable and sustainable, are attracting attention from around the world. Last June, our province established a comprehensive plan to foster nuclear power ... and announced that it would invest KRW2.6 trillion (USD1.8 billion) by 2032 and foster the nuclear power industry, including the development of SMR technology.
"The government's will to revitalise the nuclear power ecosystem and Gyeongsangnam's efforts to foster SMRs will combine to make Gyeongsangnam a true global centre of the SMR industry. I hope that this international conference will serve as an opportunity for the development of all industries, including SMRs, in Korea, and that Korea and Gyeongnam will become leaders in the global SMR industry through cooperation with leading global companies."
Danish firm Seaborg has growing links with South Korea (Image: South Gyeongsang province)
Seaborg's design is for modular compact molten salt reactor (CMSR) power barges equipped with between two and eight 100 MWe reactors, with an operational life of 24 years. Instead of having solid fuel rods that need constant cooling, the CMSR's fuel is mixed in a liquid salt that acts as a coolant, which means that it will simply shut down and solidify in case of emergency. In May, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute "to combine their research and development strengths" to advance nuclear technology.
TerraPower, whose chairman and founder is Bill Gates, broke ground in June in the USA on its first Natrium project, for a 345 MWe sodium-cooled fast reactor with a molten salt-based energy storage system - which can boost the system's output to 500 MW of power when needed, allowing it to integrate seamlessly with renewable resources. The is being built near a retiring coal-fired plant.
More than 300 people from a wide range of global and Korean firms and organisations attended the event. South Gyeongsang Province is investing a total of KRW16 billion (USD11.5 million) from 2023 to 2026 to build the 'Gyeongnam Nuclear Industry Comprehensive Support Centre' to foster the nuclear power plant manufacturing industry and support companies within the energy industry as part of the aim of becoming a hub for the SMR industry.
