HD Hyundai, South Korea’s leading heavy industries conglomerate, announced a strategic collaboration with Bill Gates-backed TerraPower to advance the manufacturing supply chain for small modular reactors. TerraPower, an American nuclear reactor design and development engineering company founded by former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, is developing next-generation Natrium reactors.
HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, HD Hyundai’s shipbuilding affiliate, signed an agreement with TerraPower on March 11 to expand the manufacturing supply chain for Natrium reactor components.
The partnership aims to combine HD Hyundai’s manufacturing expertise with TerraPower’s reactor technology to build a new supply chain that will enable large-scale production and global deployment of Natrium plants that feature a sodium-cooled fast reactor with an integrated energy storage system.
HD Hyundai Vice Chairman Chung Kisun and TerraPower Chairman Bill Gates attended the signing ceremony held in the U.S. The latest agreement builds upon the relationship previously formed in 2024 when HD Hyundai Heavy Industries won the bid to develop the reactor vessel for TerraPower’s first Natrium plant in Wyoming.
Bill Gates founded TerraPower in 2008 to develop nuclear power technologies that provide “safe, affordable, and abundant carbon-free energy.” The company is working to deliver its first Natrium plant in the U.S. by 2030. HD Hyundai will produce key reactor components to support this goal.
“We look forward to working with HD Hyundai Heavy Industries to establish the commercial-scale production capacity that will be essential for the successful deployment of multiple Natrium units globally,” said TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque.
“HD Hyundai Heavy Industries is committed to leveraging its proven manufacturing expertise and supply chain capabilities for the manufacture of Natrium components,” said Won Kwang-shik, Senior Executive Vice President & COO of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
TerraPower’s Natrium plant is a fourth-generation sodium-cooled fast reactor that uses liquid sodium as a coolant instead of water. According to the company, this design offers enhanced safety and efficiency and reduces nuclear waste by 40% compared to conventional reactors.
