India's Bharat Express News December 14, 2021 carries the New York Times (NYT) December 13, 2021 article "South Korea has long wanted nuclear submarines. A new reactor could open a door." without readers having to subscribe to NYT. NYT's article is reproduced by Bharat Express here https://www.thebharatexpressnews.com/south-korea-has-long-wanted-nuclear-submarines-a-new-reactor-could-open-a-door/
SUBMARINE MATTERS COMMENT
South Korea is leaning toward a LEU reactor solution perhaps initially on a South Korea SSBN - which will be based around the ballistic missile submarine KSS-III SSB. It is not surprising South Korea has long been in talks with France (see SubMatt's 2019 article) about South Korea building a variant of France's K15 LEU reactor. The K15 is on France's Triomphant class SSBNs and, in slightly smaller form, on the France's Barracuda-Suffren class SSNs.
Also Naval Group's assistance to Brazil to create a SSN, known as Alvaro Alberto, is highly relevant to the South Korean SSN (aka KSS-N) project, Alvaro Alberto's projected launch year (2029) and commissioning (2032-2034) may occur in the same timeframe as the South Korean SSN project.
So a A K15 variant first mounted on a South Korean SSBN by the early 2030s may be followed by mounting on a South Korean SSN by the mid 2030s.
