HD Hyundai is accelerating the development of small modular reactor (SMR) technology. Following the SMR propulsion system using nuclear power as a fuel, it is also achieving results with floating SMRs that produce electricity on the sea.

According to the shipbuilding industry on the 19th, the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) has granted Approval in Principle (AIP) for the modularization of the floating SMR designed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering. AIP is a procedure to confirm the feasibility of a specific design and to ensure there are no technical defects.

HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering reveals the design model for a 15,000 TEU-level nuclear (SMR) propulsion container ship./Courtesy of HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering

HD Hyundai is envisioning a plan to deploy floating SMRs at sea to generate and supply power to nearby areas. SMRs are reactors designed to produce electrical output of less than 300 megawatts (MW), with components manufactured in modules and assembled on-site.

A floating SMR is akin to creating a small nuclear power plant at sea. Compared to building a nuclear power plant on land, site selection is more flexible, allowing for power supply to islands and remote areas, and there is less resident opposition. Data centers, often referred to as 'power-hungry hippos,' are investigating ways to utilize the sea for cooling, making it possible to supply stable power if a floating SMR is built nearby.

Won Gwang-sik (left), head of the marine energy business division at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, and Patrick Ryan, senior vice president of the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), take a commemorative photo./Courtesy of ABS

In February, HD Hyundai received AIP for a design model of a 15,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) container ship equipped with SMR technology. The vessel operates using nuclear power instead of conventional bunker C fuel, offering benefits of high fuel efficiency and zero carbon emissions.

HD Hyundai is expanding its collaborations to apply SMR technology to ships. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries plans to supply reactor components to the American SMR corporation TerraPower, which received an investment of $30 million (about 41.5 billion won) in 2022. TerraPower is an SMR developer founded in 2008 by Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, and possesses sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) design technology.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reports that more than 1,000 SMRs are expected to be constructed worldwide by 2050, with the market size reaching 400 trillion won.