Joyce Lee, Byungwook and Kim

(Reuters) SK Group, South Korea said Tuesday that it is considering investments in small-sized nuclear reactors. TerraPower was one candidate and was founded by Bill Gates.

A spokesperson for SK Inc., the holding company behind the No. South Korea’s largest conglomerate, SK Inc, stated that TerraPower was a target for investment. However, details of the potential investment amount and stake size as well as partners were not finalized.

TerraPower, founded by Bill Gates, designs modular small reactors (SMR). It plans to construct its first reactor at Kemmerer in Wyoming in 2028. According to TerraPower, the project worth $4 billion is expected to start in 2024.

After Chey Taewon, Chairman of SK Group, pledged last year to reduce 200 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2030. This is approximately 1% of the 21 billion ton global goal for carbon elimination, according to SK Group.

Yoon Suk-yeol, the President-elect, has pledged support for nuclear power. This is a major U-turn by incumbent President Moon Jael’s nuclear-phase-out policy.