Under the agreement, Fermi Energia and Samsung will work together to develop plans for the construction of a nuclear power plant (NPP) with a capacity of up to 600 megawatts (MW).

According to Fermi Energia CEO Kalev Kallemets, preparation is especially important in nuclear energy-related projects to assess the various scopes of work.

"We have the technology from the Americans, and Canadian partners are also doing some work," Kallemets said. "Certain tasks will also be handled by Estonian subcontractors. Samsung will need to evaluate the capabilities of various contractors to carry out this work and price these tasks. They will also need to schedule the work and estimate the budget for the project."

Another important aspect that Samsung will assess in the planned locations for the reactors. Kallemets noted that the company will need to decide where construction of the project would be feasible, how workers would be able to move as well as how components could be delivered to the site.

Fermi Energia's CEO predicts that the two small reactors could be completed according to plan in ten years.

"If our schedule remains such that the special planning process can be completed by 2029, there will be two years to process the building permit and finalize financing agreements, and if there is genuine market interest, it will be entirely possible to begin construction in 2031 and have it ready by the end of 2035," he explained.

According to Kallemets, it is important to establish nuclear reactors in Estonia to save money and reduce dependence on neighboring countries.

"In Finland, electricity prices are constantly cheap, thanks to the fact that nuclear power plants there are in continuous operation," he noted.

"Earlier this week, wind turbines weren't spinning, and there was a technical fault in the connection between Lithuania and Sweden that lasted three days," the CEO pointed out. "Today, the connection between Sweden, Finland and Estonia is down due to Russian sabotage. We need reliable production capacity in Estonia, and specifically on our own territory — 1,000 MW, according to Elering's analysis — but unfortunately, all of this is currently fossil-based. In the future, this must be without fossil fuels."

Same type of reactor to be built in Canada

According to Kallemets, the agreement between Fermi Energia and Samsung C&T is also significant because they were able to get the Americans and the Koreans to work together.

"This agreement is a big deal," he underscored. "The Americans and the Koreans haven't really worked together much in nuclear energy, and we were able to convince them over the past year that Samsung is the right partner."

Samsung C&T has completed seven nuclear power plants and is currently in the process of building another three.

The nuclear reactor outlined in the agreement, the BWRX-300, is a type of boiling water reactor developed by Hitachi, the first of which will be built at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station in Canada, on the north shore of Lake Ontario east of Toronto.

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