Russia Offers to Help South Korea Build Nuclear Propulsion For Ships

Russia has offered to help South Korea build a ready-to-operate nuclear power plant for maritime propulsion using the RITM-200 reactor as a basis for its design, JSC Afrikantov OKBM, said in a 2017 annual report made public on Tuesday.

JSC Afrikantov OKBM, is a subsidiary of Rosatom nuclear corporation and the main developer of nuclear reactor cores for Russian naval vessels.

In November 2017, during a meeting in Russia, representatives from the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute [KAERI]  had said, “Korea is considering to develop a concept for a new reactor with a capacity of about 150-200 MW for sea-faring vessels and is viewing the RITM-200 reactor as a possible reference design."

According to the report, Moscow expressed readiness to cooperate with Seoul in the production of a turnkey reactor plant after receiving an official request for cooperation from South Korea and obtaining approval from the Rosatom State Nuclear Corporation.