Holtec, Entergy, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Partner to Evaluate SMR-300 Deployment Opportunities in the Southern United States

On August 4, local time, Holtec International, Entergy Services, LLC, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. (HDEC) announced a strategic collaboration to jointly evaluate potential opportunities for deploying Holtec's SMR-300 advanced small modular reactor within Entergy's service territory to power large-load customers.

The collaboration is established through a non-binding memorandum of agreement. Under the arrangement, the three parties will conduct assessments around a potential two-unit SMR-300 project, with a focus on customer demand, candidate site selection, and potential business models. The goal is to identify commercially viable project opportunities that leverage advanced nuclear energy to support regional economic growth and enhance long-term grid reliability and energy security.

Entergy and its affiliates operate one of the larger nuclear generating fleets and power systems in the United States, with service coverage spanning Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. The three parties will evaluate whether the SMR-300 can match future customer electricity demand and inform Entergy's long-term resource planning and generation portfolio optimization. The demand primarily stems from growing industrial facilities, advanced manufacturing, and artificial intelligence data centers—large-load electricity consumers in the southern U.S. Gulf region.

The SMR-300 is a Generation III+ pressurized water reactor that leverages mature PWR technology, standard nuclear fuel, and fully passive safety systems, with a net power output of approximately 340 MWe per unit. In a standard two-unit configuration, the solution can deliver approximately 680 MWe of stable, carbon-free electricity, primarily targeting utility companies, industrial facilities, and large-load customers.

Should the project advance to the implementation phase, the SMR-300 project is intended to be delivered through an integrated engineering, procurement, and construction platform developed jointly by Holtec and HDEC. Under the division of responsibilities, Holtec will handle reactor technology, nuclear systems, manufacturing, and nuclear-related procurement, while HDEC will be responsible for the engineering, procurement, and construction of balance-of-plant systems. The two parties will also coordinate project controls and execution through a jointly managed project office, forming a unified delivery model from manufacturing through commissioning.

The delivery platform combines Holtec's approximately 40 years of nuclear technology R&D and manufacturing experience with HDEC's more than 50 years of nuclear power plant construction experience. Holtec plans to deploy its first SMR-300 project at the Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan, where the Pioneer 1 and Pioneer 2 units are positioned as global reference projects for future SMR-300 deployments. The assessment of potential projects within Entergy's service territory will also draw on the Palisades project experience.

Holtec stated that the primary components of the SMR-300 are expected to be manufactured at its advanced manufacturing division in the United States, as well as at replication manufacturing facilities to be established in the future to support batch deployment. This collaboration also signifies that Entergy will incorporate advanced nuclear energy into its broader long-term resource planning assessment scope, in response to U.S. electricity demand growth, industrial expansion, AI infrastructure development, and grid reliability requirements.