Elementl, Korean consortium sign LOI for up to $750M nuclear partnership

Elementl Power has signed a preliminary agreement to form a nuclear development partnership of up to $750 million with a consortium led by South Korean investment firm DS Investment Partners (DSIP), the developer said on October 26, 2026. Samsung C&T's Engineering & Construction Group is in the consortium as a potential strategic investor. The partnership is meant to supply part of the capital that up to three Elementl advanced nuclear projects need to reach a final investment decision, and one of the three is Elementl's Ohio project built around GE Vernova Hitachi's BWRX-300 small modular reactors.

None of it is final. The agreement is a letter of intent and a term sheet, and the release says the proposed partnership "does not constitute a final investment decision on any project." It "remains subject to definitive documentation, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions," and the release gives no date for any of them. The money is for the work before construction: permitting, interconnection and procurement of long-lead items.

The $750 million is the partnership's ceiling, not the Korean check. Per the release, the consortium would fund "a portion of the proposed partnership's projected capital" and hold a significant minority interest, with no figure attached to that portion. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, put the DSIP-led pledge at up to $200 million, according to Investing.com's account of the report. By our arithmetic that is a little over a quarter of the ceiling. Elementl has hired Macquarie Capital to evaluate bringing more strategic and financial investors into the partnership, and the term sheet allows for them.

Chairman and CEO Chris Colbert calls the structure one that "represents a first-of-its-kind capital formation model for U.S. nuclear focused purely on developing multiple utility-scale projects." Once finalized, he says, it would expand Elementl's early-stage project capital and its access to South Korea's nuclear supply chain and engineering expertise. Colbert told Bloomberg he hopes the raise opens the door to more traditional project financing down the line, per the same account.

The Ohio project

The Ohio project is the one with an address. Elementl's project page describes a plant of up to 1.5 gigawatts on a nearly 700-acre site along the Ohio River in Letart Township, Meigs County, about 100 miles southeast of Columbus, on land Elementl has an agreement to buy from American Municipal Power. It has signed an Early Works Agreement with GE Vernova Hitachi for the BWRX-300 and filed a transmission interconnection request with PJM in April 2026 for the first 600 MW of output. The October release drops the "up to" and calls it a 1.5 gigawatt project.

The plant still needs approvals from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Ohio Power Siting Board, and PJM must finish its interconnection studies, the page says. If Elementl makes a final investment decision, construction on the first unit could begin as early as 2030, with completion anticipated in 2034, subject to regulatory approval. The page's answer to who pays is "Elementl and its investors," and it says the plant will not be funded through customer electric rates. The October term sheet is what that answer looks like in practice: outside money for development work that, in the Bloomberg account, has to happen before customers sign contracts.

Elementl has lined up early money for three sites before. In May 2025 Google agreed to provide early-stage capital to help Elementl prepare three potential US sites for advanced nuclear projects, each aiming for at least 600 MW, with Google holding an option for commercial off-take once projects are complete, Google said. The October release names neither Google nor the other two projects in the new partnership. Elementl also turns up in Tennessee: when the Department of Energy selected TVA for $400 million toward its Clinch River BWRX-300, DOE said TVA plans to accelerate additional units with Indiana Michigan Power and Elementl, as The Duck Curve noted when Clinch River got its construction permit.

The same Korean partners, again

Same reactor, same two Korean partners, different continent. DSIP and Samsung C&T are both in the consortium behind Studsvik's planned four-unit BWRX-300 project in Sweden, announced September 3, 2026, where DSIP leads the investment during the exclusivity period and Samsung C&T joins GE Vernova Hitachi on the execution team, as The Duck Curve reported. Samsung C&T then agreed on September 21 to provide up to $100 million of investment and in-kind engineering to Kairos Power, subject to regulatory approvals, and to join its engineering, procurement and construction team (Samsung C&T commits up to $100M of investment and engineering to Kairos).

The two accounts of Samsung C&T's role differ in strength. The release calls it a potential strategic investor; the Bloomberg report, as Investing.com relays it, has Samsung C&T committing money and in talks to provide engineering support. Its boilerplate in the release claims 12 GW delivered across 10 nuclear units, including the 5.6 GW Barakah plant in the UAE, plus front-end engineering design work for small modular reactors. Samsung C&T Senior Vice President Jung Kim says the company is "pleased to bring our nuclear construction experience and support to this effort with Elementl and DS Investment Partners."

All of this is private money, and it is the mirror image of the governments' track. The US and Korean governments' Project Power framework, announced September 30, earmarks up to $120 billion for eight large reactors and names no sites (US and Korea earmark up to $120B for eight reactors, with no sites named). Elementl's deal has a site, a reactor and a grid request, and its money is still preliminary.