Ankara: The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States, and Japan signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to establish a framework for trilateral cooperation on accelerating small modular reactor (SMR) deployments in the Indo-Pacific region, according to the State Department. The agreement was signed by South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the MOU sets forth opportunities for the three countries to leverage their complementary strengths in the civil nuclear sector. The aim is to encourage mutually beneficial cooperation among their respective nuclear industries. The framework is designed to foster fleet deployment models that reduce risks in project development, achieve economies of scale, attract private investment, streamline licensing processes, and optimize supply chains.
The State Department emphasized that this coordinated trilateral approach positions South Korean, U.S., and Japanese firms to offer regional partners more competitive alternatives for meeting growing energy demands while maintaining high standards of nuclear safety, security, and nonproliferation. To support this initiative, the U.S. is committing over $10 million in new funding for a State Department program aimed at providing technical support to Indo-Pacific countries for deploying safe and reliable nuclear energy.
The funding will support SMR project development activities and establish a regional training hub for workforce development in the SMR sector. During the signing ceremony, Secretary Rubio expressed optimism about the future of trilateral cooperation in SMRs, describing the MOU as a step forward in joint efforts on energy generation.
Minister Cho highlighted the SMR sector as one of the many areas for potential collaboration among the three nations as they face shared challenges. Minister Motegi hailed the MOU as a significant achievement for trilateral cooperation.