Hyundai Engineering & Construction (Hyundai E&C) secured the first large-scale nuclear power project contract awarded to a South Korean company in the American market. Significantly, the deal addresses the nation’s efforts to meet soaring electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale data centers.
Hyundai E&C has recently formalized a preliminary design agreement with Fermi America, a U.S. energy development specialist. The deal includes the construction of four commercial nuclear reactors. The project is set for a planned “Complex Energy and AI Campus” near Amarillo, Texas, which is envisioned as the world’s largest privately developed power network. According to reports, the facility is being developed on approximately 21,190,000 square meters of land.
Nuclear Reactor For Major AI Project
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Terms of the contract state that Hyundai E&C will perform initial design tasks for the four large reactors. These tasks include site layout planning, cooling system evaluations, and cost and schedule calculations. It is important to note, however, that the basic design phase reportedly does not include structural or functional specifications for core equipment such as the reactors and turbine-generators.
The full vision for the Texas site is an 11-gigawatt integrated energy system designed to power an adjacent hyperscale data center dedicated to advanced AI applications. This independent power supply infrastructure will combine AP1000 nuclear reactors, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), gas combined cycle power, solar power, and large-scale battery energy storage systems.
The project is currently undergoing integrated licensing review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Hyundai E&C is proceeding with main construction preparations in parallel with the basic design. The company reportedly aims to finalize a comprehensive Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract by the first half of 2025.
“This agreement confirms Hyundai’s credibility as a trusted nuclear partner in the global energy market, a Hyundai E&C representative said in a statement. “We plan to deepen practical collaboration based on the strong energy partnership between our two countries.”
