US, Japan, South Korea sign cooperation agreement for deployment of small modular reactors

The US, Japan and South Korea signed an agreement Tuesday on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye to establish a framework for trilateral cooperation aimed at accelerating the deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) ⁠in other countries.

The deployments will initially focus on the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement from the US State Department.

The Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) "advances our mutual security interests and paves the way for partner countries to meet their energy security needs," the statement said, noting that the three countries have "complementary advantages in the civil nuclear field."

Under the memorandum, the three countries will encourage "mutually beneficial" cooperation among their respective nuclear industries.

It aims to promote fleet deployment models that "de-risk project development, achieve economies of scale, catalyze private investment, streamline licensing processes, and optimize supply chains."

A coordinated trilateral approach positions American, Japanese and Korean firms to provide partners in the region with "more competitive alternatives to meet their growing energy demands and to uphold the highest standards of nuclear safety, security and nonproliferation as new reactor technology increasingly comes online," it added.

The US pledged more than $10 million for the State Department's Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) Program to support the safe deployment of small modular reactors in the Indo-Pacific.

GE Vernova, Hitachi, Samsung C&T and SGE also agreed to advance deployment of the BWRX-300 SMR across Europe.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio emphasized the importance of energy security at the signing ceremony, pointing to the Strait of Hormuz, where disruptions during the US-Iran war severely affected global energy flows.

"Small modular reactors (are) going to be in many ways the future of energy generation in a very safe, efficient way, cost-effective way that will make our economies stronger," he said.

The summit in Ankara is bringing together leaders of the 32-member alliance as well as key partners to discuss Europe’s defense capacity, NATO’s defense spending targets, military modernization and continued support for Ukraine.

Although they are not NATO members, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan have been invited to the alliance's annual summits as guests since 2022.

The Ankara meeting marks the second NATO summit hosted by Türkiye following the 2004 Istanbul summit. The gathering also provides a platform for bilateral meetings between Türkiye and allied countries on political, security and economic cooperation.