A signing ceremony was held at GS Energy Headquarters in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on April 26 with the presence of representatives from the four companies. They included GS Energy president Huh Yong-soo, Doosan Enerbility vice president Na Gi-yong, Samsung C&T vice president Lee Byung-soo, GS Energy vice president Kim Seong-won, and NuScale Power president John Hopkins.

NuScale’s SMR is the only one of its kind to receive design certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). It is regarded as the most advanced SMR in the world. It can be used for hydrogen production, seawater desalination, and heat supply to industrial complexes in addition to electricity generation.

The MOU is expected to generate huge synergies by combining NuScale’s SMR technology, GS Group’s power plant operation capabilities, Doosan Enerbility’s expertise in nuclear power plant equipment production, and Samsung C&T’s power plant construction capabilities.

A power plant using NuScale SMRs will be built and put into commercial operation in Idaho of the United States in 2029.

Eoin Treacy's view

Last month Samsung also signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at building Seaborg’s modular self-contained molten salt reactors for nearshore power production. In addition to taking a minority stake in NuScale last year, this represents a significant bet on small scale nuclear construction. It’s not an exaggeration to think South Korea is aiming to dominate the construction of small modular reactors.

Doosan Enerbility (Est P/E 31.92, DY N/A) trended lower for 12 years and bottomed in 2020. It is now testing the region of the trend mean and the psychological KRW20,000 area.
The Global X Uranium ETF shares a similar pattern.

GS Energy (Holdings) (Est P/E 3.17, DY 4.57%) has been static for much of the last year but is currently firming as it tests the region of the 1000-day MA.

Samsung C&T (Est P/E 13.45, DY 3.89%) is involved in a broad spectrum of businesses from fashion to construction. The share has been ranging above KRW10,000 for most of its time as a public company.
Rolls Royce is also hiring for its small modular reactor factory in North England. The UK government wants to accelerate construction of nuclear reactors from one a decade to one a year, so this factory is a key part of that strategy. The share continues to trend back down towards its lows.

The changes adopted by the EU last month to include both nuclear and natural gas as “green” energy sources should help support the global nuclear industry as alternatives to Russian imports are developed.