Hyundai Engineering partners with US firms for SMR market expansion

Hyundai Engineering has signed memorandums of understanding with two United States-based advanced nuclear developers, NANO Nuclear Energy (NNE) and ARC Clean Technology (ARC), to enter the global small modular reactor (SMR) market.

Through the agreement with NANO Nuclear Energy, Hyundai Engineering will collaborate on the KRONOS Micro Modular Reactor (MMR) project at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This project involves a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor designed to provide heat and electricity. Hyundai’s potential involvement includes engineering, procurement, construction (EPC), modular design review, and supply chain development. The project has already reached a regulatory milestone, with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviewing a construction permit application submitted in March.

Additionally, Hyundai Engineering has partnered with ARC Clean Technology to explore cooperation on a sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) project. ARC is currently developing the ARC-100, a 100MWe-class reactor, and is working on a commercial demonstration plant at the Idaho National Laboratory. These partnerships aim to leverage Hyundai’s large-scale plant execution experience to support the deployment of fourth-generation nuclear technologies as global demand for low-carbon power increases due to AI and data center expansion.