Doosan Enerbility of South Korea to Manufacture Pressure Vessel for NuScale Small Modular Reactor

Recently, U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) developer NuScale Power and South Korea's Doosan Enerbility formally signed a component manufacturing contract at the Changwon headquarters, under which Doosan will manufacture core components including the upper reactor pressure vessel for the NuScale Power Module (NPM). It is reported that, according to the contract requirements, Doosan Enerbility will manufacture the upper reactor coolant system and pressure vessel components at its Changwon reactor production base. The two parties have been cooperating since 2019, and this signing marks the comprehensive upgrade of their cooperation from material preparation to the actual manufacturing stage of reactor components for commercial deployment, providing NuScale with reliable equipment delivery assurance...

2026-10-31

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Terminates Negotiations with Czech Unit Construction Consortium, Plans to Re-Tender for General Construction Contractor

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) officially announced on October 29 that, due to the breakdown of negotiations with the construction consortium formed by Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility over key subcontracting terms, it will initiate procedures to terminate the cooperation agreement and re-select a new construction contractor to advance the construction of two gigawatt-class advanced pressurized water reactor units at the Czech Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant. The Czech government selected KHNP as the preferred bidder for the project in July 2024 and formally signed a general contracting agreement worth 26 trillion Korean won (approximately USD 19.4 billion) in June 2025. As early as 2018, Daewoo Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility were selected as construction partners and participated throughout the bidding...

2026-10-30

Hyundai Engineering of South Korea Partners with Two U.S. SMR Developers

Recently, Hyundai Engineering of South Korea announced the signing of memoranda of understanding with U.S. small modular reactor (SMR) developers NANO Nuclear Energy and ARC Clean Technology, marking a comprehensive push into the global small modular reactor and Generation IV advanced nuclear reactor markets. Under the cooperation framework with NANO Nuclear, Hyundai Engineering will integrate its comprehensive capabilities in engineering design, procurement, construction (EPC), supply chain management, and modular construction to jointly advance the KRONOS reactor energy system project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The reactor is a 45...

2026-10-29

South Korea Officially Approved for 10-Year Life Extension of Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4

Recently, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) officially received approval from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) to extend the operating life of Units 3 and 4 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant near Busan by 10 years. It is reported that both units are Westinghouse pressurized water reactors with a single-unit power output of 1025 MW, and their original 40-year design lifetimes expired in September 2024 and August 2025, respectively, during which both had been in shutdown status. Under this license, Kori Unit 3 may operate until September 2034, and Unit 4 until August 2035...

2026-10-28

South Korea Expects Tripling of Demand for Nuclear Design Personnel by 2034

Recently, the Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation of Seoul National University and KEPCO E&C jointly released a report titled "Human Resource Enhancement Plan to Boost Nuclear Power Plant Export Competitiveness," warning that with the revival of nuclear power at home and abroad, South Korea will simultaneously construct 15 nuclear power plants domestically and overseas by 2034, at which point demand for design personnel will surge to 4,171, facing a severe talent gap of up to 2,771. It is reported that the root cause of South Korea's nuclear design talent crisis lies in the brain drain and shrinkage of academic foundations caused by the previous nuclear phase-out policy. Data from the Ministry of Science and ICT of South Korea show that the number of domestic nuclear design personnel has plummeted from 2,486 in 2016 to 20...

2026-10-28

Wolseong NPP Unit 2 in South Korea to Shut Down on November 1

Wolseong NPP Unit 2, located in Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea, will officially reach the end of its 30-year design operating lifetime and cease operation on November 1. Since entering commercial operation in November 1996, the unit has generated approximately 150 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity cumulatively. Subsequently, the design lifetimes of Wolseong Units 3 and 4 will also expire in December next year and February 2029, respectively. South Korea's Nuclear Safety Act stipulates that nuclear power units reaching the end of their design lifetime may, provided they meet statutory safety standards, extend their operating period by 10 years through an operating change license review. However, since Wolseong Units 2 through 4 submitted their Periodic Safety Review (PSR) reports in April 2024 and completed the public comment collection on the draft radiation environmental impact assessment in May last year, two years and six months have passed, yet Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) has still not formally submitted the operating change license applications for these units.

2026-10-24

Review of Continued Operation for Kori NPP Units 3 and 4 Launched; Accident Management Plan Included in Review Process

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of South Korea is scheduled to hold its 16th plenary meeting of 2026 on October 15, formally placing the continued operation license application for Units 3 and 4 of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant in Gijang, Busan, on its agenda for deliberation. Notably, these two nuclear units, which are currently in a shutdown state, have directly initiated the continued operation licensing procedure in parallel, even as the Accident Management Plan (AMP) has yet to complete final approval. According to the meeting schedule, the first agenda item of this plenary meeting...

2026-10-14

South Korea's HD Hyundai Deepens Marine SMR Layout: Joint Industry-University-Research Initiative Establishes Demonstration Center to Accelerate Commercialization Validation of Marine SMRs

South Korean shipbuilding giant HD Hyundai is comprehensively accelerating the commercialization process of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The company recently joined hands with South Korea's nuclear energy industry, academia, and authoritative classification societies to sign a multi-party cooperation agreement, announcing the formal establishment of the SMR Marine Technology Demonstration Center, aimed at deeply integrating the construction capabilities of shipbuilding engineering with the cutting-edge research strengths of the nuclear industry and universities, creating a core catalyst for the commercial deployment of marine nuclear power. The demonstration center brings together a total of 12 industry-university-research units, including the Korean Register (KR), key nuclear energy institutions, and multiple major South Korean universities....

2026-10-08

Korea Holds Briefing Session on Bidding for Auxiliary Equipment for Czech Dukovany Nuclear Power Project

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) officially held the briefing session on bidding for auxiliary equipment for the Czech Dukovany Nuclear Power Project on September 30 at the Radiation Health Institute in Seoul. As the Czech Dukovany new Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) project has fully transitioned from the preliminary supplier qualification and registration stage to the substantive bidding and equipment procurement stage, this briefing session was aimed at providing comprehensive guidance and support for Korean domestic equipment manufacturers to participate in the bidding. The meeting attracted approximately 130 plant auxiliary equipment (...

2026-10-04

Hanul Unit 6 in South Korea commences its 15th planned preventive overhaul

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP)'s Hanul Nuclear Power Site announced that its Hanul Unit 6 was officially disconnected from the grid at 10:00 a.m. on September 30, fully launching its 15th planned preventive overhaul lasting approximately 72 days. Hanul Unit 6 is a 1,000-megawatt-class pressurized water reactor (PWR) with a rated electrical power of 1,000 megawatts. During this planned maintenance window, the operations and maintenance team will carry out routine nuclear fuel assembly refueling operations as scheduled, and conduct comprehensive preventive maintenance and performance testing on the reactor primary coolant system, engineered safety features, and conventional island critical...

2026-10-04

South Korea's Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Holds High-Level Talks with Vietnam: Deepening Nuclear Safety Regulatory Cooperation to Support Restart of Ninh Thuan Nuclear Power Project

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of South Korea held talks with a high-level Vietnamese delegation on October 1, 2026, in the large conference room in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Choi Wonho, Chairman of the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission of South Korea, Vu Hai Quan, Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Vietnam, and Nguyen Hoang Linh, Director General of the Vietnam Agency for Radiation and Nuclear Safety (VARANS), jointly attended the meeting, focusing on the systematic...

2026-10-01

South Korea Plans to Build a National Collaborative Platform for Offshore Small Modular Reactors

Recently, Professor Seo Jeong of Korea Maritime and Ocean University (KMOU) proposed at the First Offshore Small Modular Reactor Network Conference held at the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency in Busan that the commercialization of offshore Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) cannot rely solely on reactor R&D, and that a national platform linking reactor design, shipbuilding, and offshore testing must be established. The nuclear industry and the shipbuilding industry currently operate in silos, and manufacturers, research institutions, and regulatory bodies should cooperate from an early stage. Seo Jeong stated that shipborne SMRs...

2026-09-29

Samsung C&T Teams Up with GE, Hitachi and Synthos to Enter Europe's Small Modular Reactor Market

Samsung C&T's construction division has partnered with GE Vernova, Hitachi and Synthos Green Energy (SGE) to expand into Europe's small modular reactor (SMR) market. By integrating technology, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and business development capabilities, the parties aim to establish a business model for the repeat deployment of standardized small modular reactors across European countries. Samsung C&T announced on the 23rd that it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the 22nd (local time) with GE Vernova, Hitachi and SGE to pursue market development and commercial...

2026-09-23

South Korea Promotes K-Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plant Decommissioning Technology Overseas

At the 2026 Nuclear Facility Decommissioning Business Forum held on the 18th at the Westin Chosun Seoul, Seo Beom-kyung (서범경), Director of the Clean Nuclear Facility Technology Development Department at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), stated that given the limited scale of the domestic nuclear facility decommissioning market, it is necessary to turn attention to overseas markets. Seo Beom-kyung said that the scale of South Korea's domestic decommissioning market is limited, so attention must be directed overseas. This requires the establishment of international standards, as well as decommissioning methods that reduce environmental burden and plans for subsequent site utilization. At the same time, emphasis must be placed on verifying K-Decommissioning technology in practical applications to ensure its performance and safety. Although technologies achieved at the R&D stage may...

2026-09-22

South Korea Deeply Integrates 50 Years of Nuclear Power Design Experience with Artificial Intelligence

KEPCO E&C has deeply integrated its 50 years of accumulated technology and data in the nuclear power design field with artificial intelligence (AI), and its digital transformation strategy is being comprehensively accelerated. At the 2026 National Contribution Awards ceremony, KEPCO E&C received the Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Award in the AI innovation category. This award aims to recognize the company's outstanding achievements in organically combining nuclear power design experience with technical materials and successfully applying them to business innovation and safety management technology R&D in the power generation and energy sectors. Among the most notable achievements is NEXA, an autonomous generative AI platform developed specifically for power plant design. The platform ensures...

2026-09-20

Announcement of South Korea's U.S. investment plan delayed due to need to clarify related procedural issues

South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said on Thursday that the announcement of South Korea's U.S. investment plan under the South Korea-U.S. trade agreement has been delayed due to the need to clarify related procedural issues, but he did not disclose further specific details. Cho made the remarks at the airport before departing for the United States, where he is scheduled to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday. According to officials familiar with the matter and media reports, the South Korean government this week postponed the briefing on the investment plan originally scheduled to be submitted to a congressional committee, and tentatively rescheduled it to September 22. South Korean lawmakers said that a dedicated briefing to the National Assembly is a core step before the two countries finalize the details of South Korea's massive investment commitment to the United States...

2026-09-18

South Korea and Kazakhstan Sign Nuclear Energy Agreement, Deepening Cooperation on Critical Minerals and Strategic Industries

South Korea and Kazakhstan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the peaceful use of nuclear energy on Tuesday (September 15). The leaders of the two countries agreed to expand cooperation in critical minerals, artificial intelligence (AI), and other strategic industries. During the state visit of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to South Korea, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Tokayev held talks at the Blue House in Seoul. According to The Korea Times, South Korea and Kazakhstan signed a total of 13 agreements and memorandums of understanding. Lee Jae-myung and Tokayev also agreed to elevate bilateral relations to a future-oriented comprehensive strategic...

2026-09-16

Gyeongju City Council in South Korea Conducts In-Depth Inspection of Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant and Radioactive Waste Treatment Facilities

Recently, the Gyeongju City Council of South Korea organized an in-depth on-site inspection, with the focus on the Wolsong Nuclear Power Plant and the Korea Atomic Energy Environment Corporation. The inspection team aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding of the operational safety of the nuclear power plant and the operation of radioactive waste treatment facilities, and to listen to feedback from relevant personnel. The purpose of this action was to conduct an in-depth investigation of core issues closely related to public safety, including the safety management status of the nuclear power plant and the operational model of radioactive waste treatment facilities. The council members hoped that through this inspection, they could gain a more intuitive understanding of the actual situation and provide reference for formulating more comprehensive policies. At the beginning of the inspection, the council members went to Wolsong...

2026-09-14

KHNP Hanul Nuclear Power Plant Conducts High-Intensity Comprehensive Drill to Address Safety Threats Including Earthquakes, Wildfires, and Drones

On the 14th, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) Hanul Nuclear Power Plant conducted a high-intensity comprehensive emergency drill aimed at responding to compound disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires, and radioactive material leaks, as well as new safety challenges including information system failures and drone threats. The Hanul Nuclear Power Plant announced that it jointly held the "2026 Disaster Response Safety Korea Drill" with multiple relevant departments at Hanul Unit 1. The Safety Korea Drill is a nationwide comprehensive emergency exercise designed to establish a disaster management system and cross-departmental coordination mechanism involving South Korea's central ministries, local governments, and public institutions, ensuring efficient joint response capabilities during major emergencies. This drill was...

2026-09-14

South Korea Strengthens Drone Control Around Nuclear Power Plants, Illegal Flights to Trigger Criminal Law

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) stated on September 14 that it will further strengthen its response to unauthorized drone flights within no-fly zones around nuclear power plants. It is understood that under the revised Aviation Safety Act, the penalty for unauthorized operation of ultralight flying devices (drones, etc.) within no-fly zones has been significantly raised from the previous "fine of up to 3 million won (administrative fine)" to "imprisonment of up to 1 year or a fine of up to 10 million won." According to statistics from the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission of South Korea, from 2021 to August of last year, a total of 699 illegal drone incidents were detected near nuclear power plants across South Korea, of which 284 cases could not identify the operators...

2026-09-14

Korea Nuclear Safety Foundation Signs MRA with IEEE of the United States to Enhance International Credibility of Nuclear Power Equipment Performance Verification

The Korea Nuclear Safety Foundation (Chairman Kim Sung-jin) formally signed a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) in the field of nuclear power equipment performance verification with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Incorporated (IEEE) on the 14th in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province. The core of this MRA lies in: both parties mutually recognizing that their respective performance verification certification systems possess equivalent levels of professional competence and quality management capability. Under the agreement, the Korea Nuclear Safety Foundation and IEEE will mutually confirm that each other's performance verification systems continuously maintain the same...

2026-09-14