| U.S. President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on May 19, as he travels to South Korea and Japan on his first trip to Asia as president. UPI-Yonhap |
By Nam Hyun-woo
South Korea and the United States will discuss ways to strengthen their partnerships in nuclear energy during President Yoon Suk-yeol's summit with visiting U.S. President Joe Biden scheduled to be held on Saturday.
Biden is anticipated to touch down at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek on Friday evening, and attend a summit with Yoon on Saturday.
Yoon told reporters on Friday that the summit “will be an opportunity for the Seoul-Washington alliance to become more comprehensive and stronger in the wake of many changes to global society.”
On the industrial agenda, Yoon and Biden are expected to share ideas on bilateral partnerships in small modular reactors (SMRs), which are widely seen as the next key technology in the global nuclear power market, according to the presidential office.
“We are now consulting with the U.S. over the two countries' joint entry into the global nuclear power market and partnerships in developing SMRs,” an official from the presidential office said. “The two countries' commitments related to these agenda items are expected to be included in the joint statement.”
SMRs are a type of next-generation technology in nuclear power generation, as they house a reactor and other facilities in a module smaller than existing nuclear reactors. They are envisaged to vary in size from tens up to hundreds of megawatts.
The U.K.'s National Nuclear Laboratory predicts that SMRs will lead the energy market in the long run, with about 650 to 850 units expected to be built by 2035, and the annual market size estimated at around 150 trillion won ($121.5 billion).
The move seems to be in line with the two countries' efforts to take the lead in the future energy market, which has been destabilized due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Korea was regarded as one of the global powerhouses in the nuclear energy market before the previous Moon Jae-in government. But Moon's policy shift to phase out nuclear energy from Korea's energy portfolio stopped Korea's progress in that area.
President Yoon is anticipated to undo this policy, as he promised to revive the country's nuclear energy industry and restore Korea's past glory as a nuclear energy powerhouse. In anticipation, Korea's nuclear power businesses such as Doosan Enerbility, SK Inc. and Samsung Heavy Industries are expediting their efforts to develop SMR technologies.