Powering facilities along a coast is difficult when land is scarce or the local power grid is weak. South Korean shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries wants to solve that problem with floating nuclear power plants.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. engineering firm Sargent & Lundy to develop a standardized floating small modular reactor platform. Instead of building a frame for just one nuclear reactor, they want a standard platform that works with multiple reactor types. This floating power source would give shipowners and energy customers more options.

Meeting Power Needs on the Coast

reactor
Representational image of a reactor on a coast; Photo: Evannovostro/Shutterstock

Electricity demand is rising fast across many industries, driven in part by power-hungry artificial intelligence data centers. Floating reactors offer a practical way to deliver power to coastal areas and islands where land for a power plant is scarce or grid connections are limited.

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The partnership aims to move the floating reactors from early designs to commercial deployment, focusing on the global market and the United States. The companies will work together on licensing support, construction planning, sea area deployment, and meeting changing regulatory standards.

“The collaboration between S&L and Samsung Heavy Industries on FSMR development will be a significant step forward for the future of clean energy in the United States,” said Shiven Sulkar, Chief Nuclear Officer and Vice President of Sargent & Lundy. “We expect that the combination of S&L’s nuclear engineering leadership and Samsung Heavy Industries’ proven offshore platform expertise will accelerate the development of FSMRs tailored to the U.S. market and provide power utility companies, coastal states, and federal agencies with a flexible pathway for nuclear power adoption.”

Commercializing the Floating Reactor

Samsung Heavy Industries made early progress in December 2025, securing Approval in Principle from the American Bureau of Shipping for a floating platform using two SMART100 reactors. In that project, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute adapted land-based reactors for the sea, while Samsung built the floating structure, power facilities, and reactor containment system.

“Cooperation with S&L, a global leader in nuclear power plant design and engineering, will be a milestone that takes Samsung Heavy Industries’ FSMR technology to the next level,” Kim Kyung-hee, Head of Samsung Heavy Industries’ Future Business Division, added. “We will accelerate the advancement of FSMR technology, a next-generation growth engine, to lead the global offshore nuclear power market.”