GVH, Samsung C&T form BWRX-300 strategic alliance

GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) is GE Vernova's nuclear energy business, and is a GE Vernova-led joint venture with Hitachi Ltd. Its first BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) is under construction at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site in Canada, with completion expected by the end of the decade.

Korean-headquartered multi-business company Samsung C&T’s Engineering & Construction Group has more than 40 years of engineering and construction experience operating throughout the world including in the nuclear energy sector with expertise across all areas of the nuclear industry, including delivery of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates.

"With the first unit of our BWRX-300 under construction in Canada, we are well positioned to lead the deployment and scale of the SMR industry," said Maví Zingoni, CEO Power, GE Vernova. "This collaboration with a leading player like Samsung C&T, which has a solid track record of helping to deliver nuclear projects safely, on-time and on-budget, will further strengthen the BWRX-300 position among the most advanced, deployment-ready, and lowest-risk SMR technology available today."

Samsung C&T CEO Se-chul Oh said Samsung C&T and GVH aim to become global leaders in the nuclear power segment through strategic collaboration. "The collaboration will capitalise on Samsung C&T's extensive experience in nuclear power and infrastructure project execution, combined with GVH's validated technological expertise," he said.

The BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems that leverages the design and licensing basis of GE Hitachi's ESBWR boiling water reactor, and has been earmarked for potential construction projects in several countries. The Tennessee Valley Authority has submitted an application to US regulators to construct a unit at Clinch River in Tennessee, while Orlen Synthos Green Energy has selected Włocławek as the site for Poland’s first SMR.

It is one of two SMR designs shortlisted by Vattenfall for new nuclear capacity to be built adjacent to its Ringhals plant site on the Värö Peninsula in Sweden: the other is the Rolls-Royce SMR.

In April, Samsung C&T's Engineering & Construction Group signed a teaming agreement with Estonia's Fermi Energia to collaborate on the deployment of two BWRX-300 small modular reactors in Estonia.