South Korea’s Doosan Enerbility and state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. are teaming up with Amazon Web Services and X-energy to accelerate the deployment of next-generation nuclear power plants in the US.
The four companies signed a memorandum of understanding on small modular reactor, or SMR, cooperation during the Korea-US Business Roundtable in Washington on Monday, held alongside President Lee Jae Myung’s first summit, industry officials said Tuesday.
The ceremony was attended by AWS Vice President Shannon Kellogg, X-energy CEO Clay Sell, KHNP President Whang Joo-ho and Doosan Enerbility Chair and CEO Park Gee-won.
Under the agreement, the firms will cooperate extensively across reactor design, construction planning, supply chain development, investment and market expansion.
Amazon and X-energy are pushing a large-scale deployment of the Xe-100, an advanced SMR developed by X-energy, to meet surging power demand from artificial intelligence-driven growth in the US. The project envisions more than 60 units, delivering over 5 gigawatts of capacity by 2039.
Industry officials said the pact could attract as much as $50 billion in combined public and private investment, including $700 million from AWS.
X-energy is emerging as a key player in nuclear energy with backing from the US Department of Energy to advance its SMR and fuel technology. It has deepened ties with Korean energy firms since 2023, when Doosan Enerbility invested $5 million and agreed to supply core materials, along with a $20 million injection from Daelim E&C.
“We are honored to seize this opportunity to accelerate commercialization of Xe-100 technology, made possible through the support of both governments,” said Doosan Enerbility CEO Park Gee-won.
“Doosan will leverage its proven manufacturing expertise to ensure this partnership becomes a model of bilateral energy cooperation.”
Additional Korea-US energy partnerships were also signed Monday.
Doosan Enerbility inked an MOU with Fermi America on nuclear and SMR cooperation, including supplying reactor units for the US company’s “AI Campus Project” in Texas. The 11-gigawatt project will combine four large nuclear reactors, SMRs, gas-fired power plants, solar facilities and large-scale battery energy storage systems to create an independent power grid and the world’s largest private energy network.
KHNP and Samsung C&T also signed agreements to participate in the project.
Separately, KHNP extended its partnership with Centrus Energy through an MOU to join Centrus’ investment in building uranium enrichment facilities.
jwc@heraldcorp.com
