Doosan Enerbility announced on Aug. 26 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for small modular reactor (SMR) business cooperation with Amazon Web Services (AWS), X-energy, and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP).
The agreement was concluded immediately after the “Korea-U.S. Business Roundtable” held in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 25 (local time). Key executives including AWS Vice President Shannon Kellogg, X-energy CEO Clay Sell, KHNP President Hwang Joo-ho, and Doosan Enerbility Chairman Park Ji-won attended the signing ceremony.
Under the agreement, the four companies will collaborate on SMR design, construction, operation, supply chain establishment, investment, and market expansion. In particular, they plan to cooperate closely in the process of commercializing 5GW scale SMRs, in which AWS has invested approximately $700 million. This corresponds to 64 units of X-energy’s 80MW class SMRs, which are expected to be used to supply power to AWS AI data centers by 2039.
Doosan Enerbility Chairman Park Ji-won said, “It is meaningful to have created an opportunity to accelerate SMR commercialization with the interest and support of both governments.” He added, “We will faithfully perform our role based on Doosan’s proven manufacturing capabilities to make this agreement a model case for energy industry cooperation between the two countries.”
Doosan Enerbility has been building a cooperative relationship as a key equipment supplier by investing in X-energy in 2023. X-energy is pursuing its first project with Dow Chemical in Texas with support from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which is providing a total of $1.2 billion to support X-energy’s SMR demonstration.
On the same day, Doosan Enerbility also signed an MOU with Fermi America, a U.S. energy developer, for cooperation in nuclear power plants and SMRs.
The two companies plan to establish a comprehensive cooperative relationship for large nuclear power plants and SMRs to be supplied to the “AI Campus Project” that Fermi America is pursuing in Texas. This project aims to construct the world’s largest AI data center and an independent power infrastructure of up to 11GW by combining four large nuclear power plants (total 4GW), SMRs, gas combined cycle power generation, solar power, and large-scale Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS).
Doosan Enerbility plans to further accelerate its entry into the U.S. nuclear power and SMR market and strengthen its position in the global energy market through these consecutive agreements.
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