[Click eStock] Doosan Enerbility to Benefit from US-UK SMR Cooperation

The UK government recently announced plans to sign the "Atlantic Partnership for Advanced Nuclear Energy" (tentative name) agreement during President Trump's visit. The agreement aims to significantly shorten the approval period for nuclear projects, reducing the time required to approve new nuclear power plants from 3-4 years to just 2 years. On September 18, KB Securities stated in its report, "Doosan Enerbility Expected to Benefit from Expanded US Nuclear Cooperation," that Doosan Enerbility is likely to benefit from the expansion of nuclear and small modular reactor (SMR) cooperation between the United States and its allies.

Contracts for SMRs between US and UK companies have been signed in succession. US-based X-energy and UK energy company Centrica have entered into a Joint Development Agreement (JDA). Their goal is to build up to 12 advanced modular reactors with a total capacity of 6GW at the Hartlepool site in England. UK real estate investment firm Tritax, France's EDF, and US-based Holtec have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to construct a data center powered by SMRs at the site of a former coal-fired power plant in Nottinghamshire. Including these, a total of five new commercial contracts between companies have been announced.

Recently, large-scale SMR power plant construction plans have been announced one after another. In addition to the 6GW project mentioned in the JDA between X-energy and Centrica, on September 5, US energy company TVA signed a cooperation agreement with ENTRA1 Energy, the developer of NuScale Power's SMR, to introduce up to 6GW of SMR capacity.

Jung Hyejeong, an analyst at KB Securities, commented, "It is encouraging to see large-scale demand materializing, especially considering that previous SMR development projects rarely exceeded 1GW." She added, "It is also significant that X-energy and TerraPower, both design firms with which Doosan Enerbility has established close cooperative relationships, are frequently mentioned in the ongoing US nuclear cooperation agreements with Korea and the UK."

Doosan Enerbility made an equity investment in X-energy in 2023 and signed an agreement to supply key equipment. The company is currently conducting manufacturability reviews and producing prototypes for main equipment. In December last year, Doosan Enerbility also signed a manufacturability review contract for SMR main equipment with TerraPower and plans to manufacture three types of main equipment: the reactor containment vessel, reactor support structures, and core support structures.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), global nuclear power capacity is projected to expand from 377GW in 2024 to 445GW in 2030 and up to 992GW by 2050-a 2.6-fold increase over 26 years. In the most favorable scenario, SMRs are expected to account for 24% of newly installed nuclear capacity by 2050.