Samsung C&T joins 1.2 GW small modular reactor project in Sweden with GVH

Samsung C&T announced Thursday that it has been selected as a strategic partner for a new 1.2 GW small modular reactor project in Sweden.

The company signed a joint development agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GVH) in Stockholm on Thursday for a new nuclear power project led by Studsvik AB, a leading Swedish nuclear energy company.

Senior executives from each organization attended the signing, including Studsvik CEO Karl Thedéen, GVH CEO Jason Cooper and Samsung C&T President and CEO Oh Se-chul.

Europe is seeing growing momentum for new nuclear capacity as countries pursue energy security and carbon neutrality. Sweden's government is advancing a roadmap to secure 2.5 GW of new nuclear capacity — through a combination of SMRs and large-scale reactors — by 2035, with plans to expand that figure to 10.0 GW by 2045.

Studsvik, which is leading the project, was founded in 1947 as the central institution of Sweden's national nuclear program. The company covers the full nuclear lifecycle — from new plant development and operational support for existing facilities to decommissioning — and currently operates in more than 20 countries.

The project calls for the construction of four units of GVH's BWRX-300, a 300-megawatt SMR based on existing boiling water reactor technology, for a combined capacity of 1.2 GW. GVH was established in 2007 as a joint venture between GE of the United States and Hitachi of Japan.

The project site is located within a Studsvik-owned area that already holds a license to operate nuclear facilities. Commercial operations are targeted to begin in the mid-2030s.

The BWRX-300 is the reactor design currently under construction at Darlington in Ontario, Canada — the first commercial SMR project in the Western world. The design cleared another milestone in April when an operating license application was submitted, accelerating its path to commercialization.

Samsung C&T and GVH were selected as strategic partners after a competitive process involving three groups that began in May last year. Their selection marks the first concrete step toward advancing the Swedish SMR project in earnest.

Under the agreement, Studsvik will handle overall project development — including licensing, environmental impact assessments and government consultations — while Samsung C&T and GVH will serve as joint EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) partners, collaborating across all phases from early development through execution.

The two companies have been deepening their collaboration since last year through partnership agreements and local supply chain development aimed at global SMR expansion. Their selection as strategic partners marks the first visible result of those efforts.

Samsung C&T said it will use the agreement as a springboard to begin full-scale development of the Swedish SMR project, while also leveraging it as a foothold for broader expansion into the European SMR market and beyond.