Bill Gates to visit South Korea in August for SMR talks

Bill Gates is scheduled to visit South Korea on Aug. 14 to discuss small modular reactor cooperation with Prime Minister Han Seong-sook and major industrial groups including SK and HD Hyundai. The trip comes as TerraPower, the reactor developer Gates founded in 2008 and still chairs, advances its Natrium project in the United States and as Seoul moves to speed up SMR development to meet rising power demand from AI data centers and semiconductor plants. One focus of the visit is expected to be expanding South Korean companies’ roles in TerraPower projects. TerraPower received a construction permit from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. nuclear regulator) in March for Kemmerer Unit 1 in Wyoming and began main reactor construction in April. The company’s Natrium design is a fourth-generation reactor using sodium-cooled fast reactor technology, with liquid sodium as the coolant. South Korean participation has become more concrete over the past year. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power bought $40 million of TerraPower shares from SK Innovation in January, while SK Group had invested $250 million in 2022 to become a major shareholder. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries was named preferred bidder in May to supply key equipment for the Reactor Enclosure System, and Doosan Enerbility was selected to manufacture and supply core equipment including the core barrel and guard vessel. The visit also aligns with the government’s broader policy push. South Korea announced on July 23 a policy direction for fostering next-generation SMRs and said it would build a cross-government support system covering development, demonstration, licensing and commercialization. A special SMR law to support technology development and commercialization will take effect in September. Bae Kyung-hoon, deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT, said on July 20 that the government is seriously reviewing how to bring forward its existing SMR procurement plan as electricity demand grows.