HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE), a sub-holdings company of HD Hyundai, has held a joint research and technology exchange meeting with TerraPower and CORE POWER with plans unveiled to develop small modular nuclear reactors for use on newbuilds, according to the company's release.
The reactor, which will be jointly developed by KSOE and other partners including TerraPower and CORE POWER, centres around TerraPower’s molten chloride fast reactor (MCFR) design.
HD Hyundai invested $30m in TerraPower in November 2022 and has been looking at nuclear power for ships for a number of years. KSOE plans to send a R&D team to TerraPower in March to continue cooperation with all the joint research companies from various fields including marine nuclear power plants and new nuclear applications.
In addition, KSOE plans to join the establishment of a system for the application of marine reactors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and classification societies ABS and Lloyd’s Register.