'Korean Small Modular Reactors' Face Slow Export to Saudi Arabia... Will Competitiveness in Small Nuclear Reactors Also Lag?

Delay in Establishing Saudi Joint Venture for Exporting 'SMART' Developed with Indigenous Technology
Major Nuclear Countries like the US Expand SMR Investments
"Need to Advance SMR Technology and Expand Market to Compete with Developed Countries"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporters Haeyoung Kwon and Sangdon Joo] It has been revealed that the overseas export of 'SMART,' a system-integrated reactor independently developed by Korea for the first time in the world, is sluggish. Although major nuclear power countries such as the United States, France, and the United Kingdom are turning their attention to the development of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), concerns are emerging that Korea may fall behind not only in large nuclear power plants but also in small nuclear power competitiveness due to neglecting investment amid the country's nuclear phase-out policy.

According to the nuclear power industry on the 11th, the establishment of a Korea-Saudi joint venture for the export of the multipurpose small reactor SMART to Saudi Arabia has shown no progress for a year.

SMART is a 100 MW-class small nuclear power plant developed by the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute starting in 1997 and received Standard Design Approval (SDA) in 2012. It was recognized for its competitiveness in the small and medium-sized nuclear power market by obtaining SDA for an integrated reactor ahead of major nuclear power countries such as the United States, China, and Russia, and it was also evaluated to have laid the foundation for overseas exports.

The government announced in January last year that it would establish a local corporation in Saudi Arabia to promote nuclear power plant construction. This was a follow-up measure after agreeing to build two SMART units in Saudi Arabia in 2015 and investing a total of $130 million over three years from December of the same year in the Pre-Project Engineering (PPE) phase by both countries. It was expected that the long-awaited overseas export of small nuclear power plants would begin in earnest, but even after a year, the joint venture has not been established, and progress remains sluggish.

An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT explained, "The establishment of the corporation is delayed due to internal circumstances in Saudi Arabia." According to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, which is participating in this project, "The decline in international oil prices last year and the spread of COVID-19 appear to have affected the delay in the project," adding, "The export of nuclear power plants to Saudi Arabia is being promoted in parallel with the joint development of SMART's standard design approval by both countries, and discussions on establishing the joint venture SMART EPC will proceed in the future."

Some view that the government's nuclear phase-out policy may have influenced the delay in SMART's export to Saudi Arabia.

SMART is a model that began development in the mid-1990s and is evaluated to have inferior technology compared to competing models such as the U.S. SMR developer NuScale. The budget allocated for SMART's advancement under the government's nuclear phase-out policy was only 3.5 billion KRW and 6.5 billion KRW in the last and this year, respectively. It is also pointed out that there is no commercial operation experience since the reactor has not been built domestically.

The government belatedly announced at the end of last year that it would expedite the development of the Korean-style innovative small modular reactor 'i-SMR,' aiming to develop the next-generation SMR to succeed SMART. Although it announced an investment of 400 billion KRW over the next eight years, no concrete plans have been presented. The government plans to start a preliminary feasibility study within the first half of the year and establish detailed plans.

Meanwhile, major nuclear power countries competing with Korea are expanding their SMR investments. The United States announced in October last year an investment plan of $3.2 billion over seven years to support SMRs and next-generation reactors. The United Kingdom also presented a concrete roadmap to build up to 16 SMRs by investing 200 million pounds over five years. This is based on the judgment that nuclear power plant construction, which emits no carbon dioxide, is inevitable for carbon neutrality. SMRs are especially evaluated as safer than large nuclear power plants because the reactor size is small, resulting in less radioactive material released in case of an accident and less decay heat generated by the reactor. Although less economical, their advantages include lower initial investment costs and cost reduction through simple design. As major countries expand SMR construction, the UK Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) expects SMR facility capacity to expand to 65?85 GWe (1 GWe is the capacity of one nuclear power plant) by 2035.

Experts advise that Korea should develop small nuclear power technology based on its competitive large nuclear power technology and preoccupy the market through overseas exports.

Professor Dongwook Jung of the Department of Energy Systems Engineering at Chung-Ang University said, "Korea had been ahead in the small nuclear power field, but now the overall industry assessment is that competitiveness is lacking compared to major countries such as the United States," adding, "Based on the technological development experience we have accumulated, we need to advance small nuclear power technology that has advantages such as safety, flexible operation, and distributed power."

Professor Poonghyun Sung, Emeritus Professor of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering at KAIST, said, "The nuclear phase-out policy over the past few years has significantly set back the nuclear competitiveness we had accumulated," advising, "Since nuclear power is essential for carbon zero, the nuclear phase-out policy should be reversed now, and SMR investment should also be expanded to restore the collapsed ecosystem and enhance competitiveness."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.