Doosan Enerbility joins forces with Rolls-Royce SMR to fast-track European small modular reactor deployment

Doosan Enerbility has been chosen by Rolls-Royce SMR as a strategic manufacturing partner for key components in its small modular reactor programme, deepening the South Korean group’s role in the emerging European SMR supply chain.

According to the companies, the work will focus on pre-production engineering and manufacturability reviews for major nuclear island components, including the reactor pressure vessel body and other core equipment. Rolls-Royce SMR said the collabora...

tion is intended to improve design finalisation and manufacturing readiness so the company can move towards first power as quickly as possible.

The agreement is tied to Rolls-Royce SMR’s planned deployments at Wylfa in north Wales and Temelín in the Czech Republic. In April, the UK developer signed a contract with Great British Energy-Nuclear enabling immediate site-specific design work for three units at Wylfa, while an early works contract with Czech utility ČEZ paved the way for licensing, permitting and preliminary design activity.

Rolls-Royce SMR is developing a 470MW reactor designed to provide baseload electricity for at least 60 years. The company has said the aim is to deploy a fleet of standardised plants across Europe and potentially beyond.

Doosan Enerbility said it would apply advanced manufacturing techniques, including powder metallurgy hot isostatic pressing, as part of efforts to strengthen its SMR capability. The company is also expanding production capacity at its Changwon headquarters, where it is building a new fabrication shop dedicated to SMR work.

Jongdoo Kim, chief executive of Doosan Enerbility’s nuclear business group, described the partnership as an important step in broadening the company’s participation in the global SMR market. Rolls-Royce SMR, meanwhile, has said the supplier relationship will help secure the component base needed for its first deployments and support the wider build-out of a European reactor fleet.

The deal follows earlier moves by Doosan Enerbility in the SMR sector, including work with NuScale Power in the United States, underscoring the company’s ambition to position itself as a major supplier of next-generation nuclear equipment.

Source: Noah Wire Services