Meeting with Reps. Lee In-seon, Choi Hyeong-du, Noh Yong-ho, Lee Jae-jeong, and Kim Han-jeong

Chairman Tobias Anderson: “Looking forward to nuclear power plant cooperation with Korea”

[Daily Korea Reporter Ahn Hee-min] While Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power is seeking to win an order for a small modular nuclear power plant (SMR) in Sweden, a delegation from the Swedish Industry and Trade Commission is attracting attention by visiting Korea. Rep. Lee In-seon, who met them at the National Assembly, actively promoted SMR marketing.

People Power Party lawmaker Lee In-seon's office announced on the 28th that it had a meeting with Tobias Anderson, chairman of the Swedish Industry and Trade Commission, at the National Assembly. At the meeting, Rep. Lee requested support at the National Assembly level so that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power could win the Swedish SMR project.

KHNP plans to submit a letter of intent to bid for SMR Construction in Sweden by mid-September. To this end, an ‘innovative SMR commercialization organization’ has been established and is currently active. In January of this year, a letter of intent to participate in the Swedish SMR construction project was submitted, and preliminary screening data was submitted in May. In June, it passed the preliminary screening by Vattenfall, the Swedish state-run electric power company, and is now pending full-scale bidding screening.

The Swedish SMR construction project targets the light water reactor SMR type, and the innovative SMR (iSMR) that Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power is developing is this type.

Competitors for the Swedish SMR construction bid include Rolls-Royce SMR's UK-SMR and Westinghouse's AP300, showing that KHNP's bid this time is not easy.

This is why Rep. Lee brought iSMR to the attention of Chairman Tobias Anderson and his group. In attendance were Lee Woo-neo, National Assembly Industrial and Self-Government Committee Chairman Lee Jae-jeong, Secretary Kim Han-jeong, Representative Choi Hyeong-du, and Noh Yong-ho.

Lawmakers from both countries exchanged pleasantries about energy, electric vehicles, batteries, and the military industry, but the biggest concern was the energy mix due to the climate crisis. Sweden, which has a high-level radiation field, plans to build at least 10 nuclear reactors over the next 20 years and is known to be particularly interested in SMR.

Chairman Tobias Anderson said, “Sweden, which has radioactive waste treatment facilities for nuclear power plants, will expand nuclear power plants to overcome the climate crisis,” and added, “We look forward to cooperation with Korea.”

In response, Representative Lee In-seon said, “KHNP can be the most suitable and ideal partner for the Swedish SMR construction project,” and added, “We ask for active support and interest at the National Assembly level.”