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| Samsung Heavy Industries CEO Jung Jin-taek, right, and his counterpart from Seaborg, hold a copy of a signed memorandum of understanding, Thursday. Courtesy of Samsung Heavy Industries |
By Lee Kyung-min
Samsung Heavy Industries and Doosan Enerbility, the plant building and energy affiliates of Samsung Group and Doosan Group, respectively, are accelerating their nuclear energy businesses, buoyed by President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's pledge to elevate the much criticized energy source as a new national growth driver, according to industry watchers, Friday.
The move toward rapid business expansion abroad is the latest in the incoming administration's energy policy directives, defined by the early and full scrapping of the nuclear phase-out policy spearheaded by President Moon Jae-in.
President-elect Yoon said that Korea should embrace nuclear energy for a stable supply of power to lower production costs for businesses and to meet the short-term energy demands of households for heating and air-conditioning.
Samsung Heavy signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Seaborg, a Danish next-generation nuclear reactor developer, Thursday, to develop floating nuclear power plant barges, a high-tech cooperation integrating the Samsung affiliate's shipbuilding capabilities and the Danish firm's Compact Molten Salt Reactor (CMSR) technology.
The Seaborg-developed CMSR uses highly efficient fission energy to generate electricity without producing greenhouse gases. The reactor is far smaller in size compared to large nuclear power plants and is suited for broader use with fewer limitations.
Safety concerns from radioactive waste being released into the sea due to meltdowns or explosions are dispelled, due mostly to how the fuel is mixed into a molten fluoride salt, which also acts as the coolant and can shut down the reactor in cases of an emergency. This is why the Danish firm says its products provide significant safety benefits.
Samsung Heavy said that the fuel salt will cool down and turn into solid rock immediately after coming into contact with the atmosphere, containing all the radioactive material within itself.
Also eliminating a wide range of accident scenarios is the fact that the reactors can be operated at near-atmospheric pressures.
Similarly, Doosan Enerbility, formerly Doosan Heavy Industries, is seeking to win advance orders to build nuclear power plants in the Czech Republic.
The Doosan officials attended a meeting organized by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP), a state-run power company, Thursday, to discuss business strategies to win the project involving the construction of a nuclear reactor with a power capacity of 1,200 megawatts in 2029. The Czech government is considering building three more nuclear power plants.
The project led by Doosan Enerbility is joined by KHNP, Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO), two other KEPCO affiliates and Daewoo Engineering and Construction.
The Doosan affiliate is speeding up cooperation with NuScale Power, a leading U.S. firm specializing in small modular reactor (SMR) technology. SMRs are the next generation of nuclear reactors that are smaller and produce less output.
Seoul National University economics professor Lee In-ho said that a revival of the nuclear energy business is long overdue and added that it will help map out a long-term energy strategy.
"Pushing for renewable energies while excluding nuclear energy use was not viable in the first place. It is time for a more balanced approach without demonizing or glorifying any particular energy source," he said.
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