South Korean shipbuilding group HD Hyundai is targeting capacity to build two to three reactor vessels a year for TerraPower’s Natrium programme as it expands its nuclear energy and marine propulsion business, according to HD Hyundai.
Chairman Chung Ki-sun met TerraPower founder Bill Gates, TerraPower chief executive Chris Levesque and Hyundai Engineering & Construction chief executive Lee Han-woo in Seoul on 14 August to advance manufacturing, supply-chain and construction cooperation. The meeting was the first involving the three companies’ top executives since they signed a three-way agreement in May.
TerraPower will provide Natrium technology, HD Hyundai will manufacture major reactor equipment and Hyundai Engineering & Construction will handle engineering, procurement and construction.
HD Hyundai plans to invest in production facilities before commercial deployment, targeting annual capacity for two to three reactor vessels.
HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering invested $30m in TerraPower in 2022. HD Hyundai secured an order in December 2024 to manufacture a cylindrical reactor vessel for TerraPower’s first Natrium project, before the companies expanded their manufacturing cooperation in March 2025.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was selected in May 2026 as a preferred manufacturer for components of the Natrium Reactor Enclosure System.
Natrium combines a 345-MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten-salt energy storage that can raise output to 500 MW when required. Construction of Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming began in April 2026 after US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approval in March, with completion targeted for 2030.
The programme runs alongside HD Hyundai’s work on nuclear propulsion for commercial shipping. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering has received ABS approval in principle for a 15,000-TEU nuclear-electric containership concept using a molten salt reactor. It also began a study with ABS and HD Hyundai Samho in March 2026 on nuclear-electric propulsion for a 16,000-TEU containership.
HD Hyundai is a South Korean industrial holding group with businesses in shipbuilding and offshore engineering, energy, machinery and robotics. HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering is the group’s shipbuilding holding and engineering company.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and HD Hyundai Samho are shipbuilding companies within the group.
TerraPower is a US nuclear technology company founded by Bill Gates.
Hyundai Engineering & Construction is a South Korean engineering and construction company.