Will Korea reap the benefits as Trump powers up $17.5B nuclear energy plans?

[NEWS ANALYSIS]

As the White House unveils a $17.5 billion loan program meant to power U.S. President Donald Trump’s so-called nuclear renaissance, Korean construction firms are stepping in to fill a void that decades of atrophy have left in America's nuclear supply chain. 

Experts suggest Korea could serve as the foundry for Washington's nuclear power ambitions, leveraging its manufacturing prowess much in the way Samsung Electronics and SK hynix rose to become the undisputed foundries of the chip world.

That momentum has only sharpened since U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed that a portion of Korea's pledged $200 billion in U.S. investment will be directed toward nuclear projects — a development that makes the timing especially favorable for Korean firms like Hyundai Engineering & Construction and Doosan Enerbility, both already deep in partnerships with Westinghouse Electric, a Pennsylvania-based nuclear firm.

In small modular reactors (SMR) — the very technology Washington needs most to make its renaissance a reality — they've built an outsize footprint, with Doosan and Hyundai already working with U.S. energy firms X-energy and Holtec.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on June 23 announced a conditional, low-interest loan program worth $17.5 billion for utilities and energy companies ordering equipment tied to the AP1000, Westinghouse's large-reactor design, which is largely seen as a linchpin of President Trump's pledge to break ground on 10 new large reactors in the United States by 2030.

U.S. shortfall meets Korea's experience

Nuclear construction in the United States has been largely dormant since the 1980s, and the industrial base that once supported it, including forges, specialized labor and engineers, has eroded with it through neglect and waves of retirement. 

Of the six AP1000 reactors in operation worldwide, four are based in China. The latest Vogtle 3 and 4 reactors in Georgia, the first large reactors to break ground in the United States in 34 years, suffered seven years of delays and came in nearly two-and-a-half times over budget. 

With AI-driven data centers straining its grid, Washington finds itself reaching for Korea's outstretched hand — a country with experienced firms that have built 36 reactors, including all four units at the United Arab Emirates' Barakah plant, over the past two decades — largely due to timing and on budget. 

“[The] United States needs more than 370,000 additional skilled workers to realize its nuclear power goal, and the key to closing that labor and manufacturing gap lies in Korea,” said Thomas Byrne, an adjunct professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University and an adviser to the law firm Bae, Kim & Lee. Prof. Byrne previously headed The Korea Society and worked as an analyst at Moody's Investors Service.

“Just as TSMC and Samsung Electronics became the world's semiconductor foundries, Korea's nuclear manufacturers now aspire to be the core foundry of the global SMR market,” Byrne said. “That synergy between Korean and American firms could become the cornerstone of the industrial supply chain needed to deploy nuclear power at scale.”

Hyundai Engineering & Construction has partnered with Westinghouse since 2022 on joint bids for large-reactor projects. Hyundai’s latest deal was the with Dallas-based Fermi America for the front-end engineering design contract for four AP1000 units at Project Matador, its massive AI data center. 

As a combined energy-and-AI campus, the project is Fermi America's bid to build the world's largest private power grid — a so-called HyperGrid that will draw 11 gigawatts (GW) of self-contained capacity from four AP1000 reactors and an additional 2 GW from SMRs. 

Design firms typically carry a project through to construction, and Hyundai may have hold the priority negotiating rights for engineering, procurement and construction contracts. 

Doosan Enerbility has been the principal supplier of Westinghouse of core reactor equipment from reactor vessels and steam generators. The company has already supplied reactors and steam generators for all six of the AP1000 units now in operation worldwide, making it the only firm to deliver both components. 

SMRs: The U.S.-Korea partnership to outpace China

Washington's nuclear ambitions hinge less on sheer reactor count than on the nimble, rapidly deployable technology only SMRs can provide. 

Korea's presence runs deeper than commonly thought, with a Korean partner embedded in every one of U.S.’s four leading SMR developers. 

Doosan Enerbility has signed manufacturing contracts with NuScale, X-energy and TerraPower, and is now pursuing equipment supply for a 5 GW SMR project backed by Amazon Web Services. 

It is also investing heavily in a dedicated SMR production line at its Changwon plant — the world's first of its kind — which could slash production time for SMRs from 17 months to 3 months. 

Hyundai Engineering & Construction has formalized an agreement with Holtec International to build and supply SMR-160 plants, while SK Inc. and SK Innovation have struck a partnership with TerraPower, the company founded by Bill Gates, to commercialize the Natrium reactor and its integrated energy system.

“The DOE loan signals a growing likelihood that these nuclear projects will move from proposal to reality,” said Han Seung-hun, an analyst at Shinhan Investment & Securities. 

“If Korean investment does flow into the nuclear sector, SMRs are more likely beneficiaries than large-scale plants — and SMR developers that have already partnered with Korean firms would be the first in line.”

X-energy CEO J. Clay Sell mentioned that collaboration between the United States and Korea in the nuclear sector is “vital to preserving American leadership in the AI race and surpassing China as the leader in nuclear development.”

BY SARAH CHEA   [[email protected]]