Building a nuclear power plant has many similarities to shipbuilding, involving the installation of complex systems into massive steel components while adhering to strict safety and quality standards. If core tasks such as nuclear power plant construction, manufacturing, and assembly could be transferred to South Korean shipyards, the schedule could be shortened and production significantly increased.
Chris Anderson, the TED representative, noted during a keynote speech on the theme "What is the reason for nuclear innovation led by South Korea that the world needs?" at the 2025 Korea Nuclear Annual Conference held at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 29th, that "While we cannot mass-produce nuclear power plants like cars or smartphones in factories, South Korea is in a unique position to solve this issue."
Anderson is a British-American businessman born to British parents in Pakistan in 1957. He majored in philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Oxford, worked in media and publishing, and has been a curator at TED since 2001. He is now also active as an investor in companies developing small modular reactors based on molten salt reactors (MSR).
Anderson became interested in energy transition and nuclear power due to TED talks. He explained, "Once a strong anti-nuclear environmental activist, Stewart Brand spoke at TED and described that the waste produced from the nuclear power that a wealthy American uses in their lifetime amounts to the size of just one cola can," adding, "Hearing that if coal were used, it would produce the equivalent of 25,000 cola cans and one ton of carbon dioxide, I came to believe that nuclear power should play a key role in future energy."
However, he pointed out that issues such as speed, expense, and scalability must be addressed to supply power through nuclear energy. He stated, "It can take more than 10 years to construct a traditional nuclear power plant, and the approval process for its construction is as slow as the movement of glaciers," and added, "The construction costs of nuclear power plants are not competitive compared to coal, and even if the expense issue is resolved, hundreds or thousands of nuclear power plants would need to be built to meet global demand."
Anderson said, "We have found a way to create factories that can produce necessary products in bulk and at low prices, and I believe South Korea is in a unique position to solve this issue," encouraging, "Imagine building nuclear power plants on standardized assembly lines."
He continued, "Shipyards are ideally standardized large-scale manufacturing facilities, and South Korean shipyards can replicate, improve, and expand their capabilities, producing several ships or modules each year. It is estimated that with the existing capacity of South Korean shipyards alone, they could rapidly produce more than 10 GW of nuclear energy each year."
He asserted, "I believe South Korea has an excellent opportunity to transform nuclear power into a streamlined industrial powerhouse," adding, "South Korean shipyards will be able to mass-produce nuclear power plants just as they produce liquefied natural gas carriers or container ships. This would benefit both South Korea and the entire planet."