The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission agreed to integrate nuclear safety and regulatory cooperation into overseas reactor bids, paving the way for Bill Gates' TerraPower deepen partnerships with SK Innovation and Hyundai companies on Friday.
The government is initially looking toward countries including Vietnam and the Philippines, where plans for new nuclear power programs are creating demand for expertise that extends well beyond construction. Newcomer countries must establish nuclear laws, licensing procedures, technical standards, regulatory institutions and trained safety personnel alongside the physical plant.
Under a memorandum signed in Seoul on Thursday, the industry ministry and nuclear safety commission will regularly share information on overseas projects, local regulatory conditions and requests for cooperation.
They plan to use Korea's experience regulating reactors through design, construction and operation to help prospective importing countries build safety and licensing systems suited to their stage of nuclear development.
Until now, requests for regulatory assistance from overseas were generally passed by the industry ministry to the safety commission, which then worked with specialist agencies on an individual basis.
The new arrangement is intended to bring regulatory cooperation into export projects from an earlier stage, effectively adding another piece to the "Team Korea" model traditionally built around utilities, reactor vendors, engineering companies and construction contractors.
Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the Korea Nuclear Association for International Cooperation, the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control also signed a separate cooperation agreement to carry out country-specific regulatory projects.
Officials reviewed projects in Vietnam, the Czech Republic and the Philippines following the signing and discussed how regulatory cooperation previously pursued with the United Arab Emirates and the Czech Republic could be adapted to other markets.
Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan said the agreement created a formal structure linking reactor exports with regulatory cooperation and would allow Korea to respond more comprehensively to countries preparing to introduce nuclear power.
Nuclear Safety and Security Commission Chairman Choi Won-ho said Korea would use its accumulated regulatory experience to tailor cooperation to individual countries' conditions and needs.
The second part of Korea's nuclear push is emerging in advanced reactors.
Gates, TerraPower's founder and chairman, met Korean government and business leaders in Seoul on Friday as the U.S. developer expanded commercial ties with Korean companies involved in manufacturing, engineering and project development.
The industry ministry said Korean companies including SK and HD Hyundai have invested in TerraPower and are seeking roles ranging from equipment manufacturing to construction and operations in its U.S. and overseas projects. The ministry said Korea's dense network of large nuclear-equipment suppliers and smaller specialized manufacturers could serve as a production base for a future fleet of advanced reactors.
TerraPower is building its first Natrium plant in Kemmerer, Wyoming. The design combines a 345-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor with molten-salt energy storage, allowing output to rise to as much as 500 MW when demand peaks. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued its construction permit in March, and TerraPower began reactor construction in April.
TerraPower says the first plant is expected to be completed in 2030, while the Korean industry ministry's release cites a 2031 target for commercial operation.
SK Innovation on Friday signed a term sheet with TerraPower to pursue broader Natrium business development and explore Korea's first commercial Natrium project, as well as opportunities in international markets.
The companies also plan to examine cooperation in engineering, digital twins and artificial intelligence for plant operation and maintenance.
The agreement builds on SK's earlier financial investment in TerraPower and gives the Korean group a potential route into a reactor business that could eventually serve both industrial power demand and electricity-hungry AI infrastructure. The Korean government said rapidly expanding data centers are contributing to global interest in SMRs and argued that the early formation of their supply chains creates an opening for Korean manufacturers.
Hyundai companies are moving deeper into the same supply chain.
TerraPower said Friday that Hyundai Engineering & Construction had been selected as engineering, procurement and construction contractor for up to eight future Natrium reactors, with completion, price and performance guarantees intended to make conventional commercial financing easier.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries already became TerraPower's preferred manufacturer in May for components of the Natrium Reactor Enclosure System, giving the shipbuilder a role in building a scalable production chain for multiple reactors. TerraPower, HD Hyundai and Hyundai E&C have also agreed to cooperate across design, manufacturing, construction and project delivery.
Kim told Gates that Korea had built what he described as a "foundry-level nuclear manufacturing and construction ecosystem" through roughly five decades of domestic and overseas reactor projects.
Combining standardized foreign SMR designs with Korea's capacity for reliable serial production could help improve project economics, he said.
- TerraPower is pulling Korean companies deeper into the SMR supply chain: SK Innovation is exploring a Korean Natrium project, while Hyundai E&C has been tapped for up to eight future reactors and HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is a preferred equipment manufacturer.
- The export strategy is becoming technology-agnostic: Korea aims to sell its own reactors while also supplying manufacturing, EPC and regulatory expertise to foreign-designed nuclear projects.
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