- Plans to use the simulator as test equipment for design and operation suitability -

  On June 28, the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. (KHNP; President & CEO, Joo-ho Whang) completed building the early version of the simulator that tests the operation suitability of the “innovative small modular reactor (i-SMR)” in its Central Research Institute.

  i-SMR, a Korean-style small modular reactor, has been equipped with a technology that reduced the generation capacity of massive nuclear power plants with capacities above 1,000 MW to 170 MW and a modularized production technique. i-SMR features a significant reduction of construction time with drastically enhanced safety based on the design in which the safety facility, which cools the nuclear reactor in accidents, operates by itself without any control or power source.

KHNP aims to use the simulator to test i-SMR’s design and operational suitability with plans to apply the test results drawn from the simulator’s sessions to the standard design process. The latest development is the initial version applied with i-SMR’s conceptual design and basic design; KHNP’s goal is to keep updating additional designs to finalize the first development stage by September 2025. 

  i-SMR’s conceptual design and basic design was completed at the end of last year, and its standard design will be finalized by December 2025. Updates will roll out after 2025 to apply the standard design to the simulator; KHNP is adding momentum to the development process to build the simulator by the first half of 2027. KHNP plans to utilize the simulator after its establishment to continuously conduct operation suitability tests for i-SMR standard designs and harness the test results as additional data for standard design approvals.

  Hocheol Shin, the Head of Central Research Institute, commented, “We aim to gain approval for the i-SMR standard design. To do so, we will do all we can to focus all our simulator development experiences regarding large-scale nuclear power plants and the capabilities of KHNP’s research staff.”