HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun, right, shakes hands with TerraPower Board Chairman Bill Gates after a discussion about a partnership for TerraPower's future small modular reactors, at a hotel in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of HD Hyundai
Major conglomerates HD Hyundai and SK are spearheading efforts to incorporate Korean industry in TerraPower’s global small modular reactor (SMR) supply chain through talks with Bill Gates, TerraPower’s board chairman, who has been holding meetings with the groups' heads and top government officials in Korea.
HD Hyundai said its Chairman Chung Ki-sun and Hyundai E&C CEO Lee Han-woo met Gates and TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque at a hotel in Seoul on Friday. This marks the first meeting among the top executives since HD Hyundai, TerraPower and Hyundai E&C signed a three-way memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the next-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor business back in May.
During the meeting, they discussed cooperation strategies to commercialize land-based reactors, building on the progress made so far. HD Hyundai plans to accelerate investment in production facilities ahead of commercialization, with the goal of supplying two to three reactor vessels per year.
