At the opening of CES 2026 in Las Vegas today, Korea Electric Power (KEPCO) showcased what is claimed to be the world's first small-scale nuclear power generation equipment. With the explosive growth in power demand driven by AI, quantum computing, and cloud technologies, the search for clean, stable alternative energy sources has become an urgent global mission for the tech industry, making innovations like this crucial for bridging the energy gap.

These devices, known as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), were originally designed to provide energy solutions that are safer, more flexible, and easier to deploy than traditional nuclear power plants. Shapiro pointed out that the emergence of such technology signifies a transformation of nuclear energy from "massive infrastructure" into "deployable tech products," opening up possibilities for powering data centers and remote areas.

Korea Electric Power (KEPCO) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) jointly presented this equipment. Notably, KEPCO is the first utility company globally to have an independent booth in the main exhibition hall of CES. The models on display showcased the compact structural design of the SMRs, with a volume only a fraction of that of traditional nuclear reactors. The core selling points of this technology lie in its passive safety systems—which allow for automatic cooling even during a loss of external power—and the convenience of being factory-prefabricated and transported as a complete unit.

On the CES show floor, the Korean delegation used these models and immersive videos to demonstrate to the tech community how nuclear energy can serve as a clean, stable "baseload power source," providing 24/7 electricity support for the future's high-energy-consumption AI computing centers.

Beyond nuclear energy equipment, Korean startups also won multiple innovation awards in fields such as AI safety, bionic robotics, and next-generation fuel cells. In an interview, Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), stated plainly that he is not worried about an AI bubble but is more concerned about whether there will be sufficient energy to power AI operations. He described the small nuclear solutions presented by Korea as a "timely rain" arriving at this critical juncture.