{"id":632925,"date":"2026-07-09T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=632925"},"modified":"2026-07-09T20:40:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T20:40:00","slug":"us-japan-and-south-korea-push-smr-exports-for-energy-security-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=632925","title":{"rendered":"US, Japan, And South Korea Push SMR Exports For “Energy Security Needs”"},"content":{"rendered":"

US, Japan, And South Korea Push SMR Exports For “Energy Security Needs”<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The American nuclear buildout is not just about the climate or powering data centers. It’s a geopolitical war<\/a> against the export of nuclear technology from Russia and China, mixed with a new demand<\/a> for national energy security.<\/p>\n

On the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, the United States, Japan, and South Korea signed<\/a> a trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation aimed at accelerating small modular reactor (SMR) deployments in other countries<\/strong>, with an initial focus on the Indo-Pacific. The agreement is designed to bring together the complementary strengths of the three countries\u2019 civil nuclear industries.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The US State Department also notes, \u201cThe MOC advances our mutual security interests and paves the way for partner countries to meet their energy security needs.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to deploying reactors in the Indo-Pacific, the initiative is also supported by the U.S. committing over $10 million in new funding<\/strong> to the State Department’s Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) Program.<\/p>\n

Lastly, the U.S. also announced an industry initiative agreed upon with GE Vernova and their partner Hitachi, with Samsung C&T and SGE to deploy the BWRX-300 SMR in Europe<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. is continuing its trend, started after the executive orders<\/a> were signed last year, of deploying American nuclear technology in foreign countries. In the executive orders, the State Department was directed to renew or start 20 civil nuclear cooperation agreements<\/strong>, sometimes referred to as \u201c123 Agreements<\/a>\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The goal is to strengthen U.S. political ties with allies and other countries in Europe and Asia by supporting those countries’ domestic energy security needs. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The reactor export story also has a fuel-chain counterpart. More allied SMR deployments would eventually require more allied fuel supply, and that is where companies like Centrus Energy and General Matter become relevant.<\/p>\n

Centrus already has a direct South Korea connection<\/strong>. In 2025, Centrus announced that it had expanded<\/a> its agreement with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power and POSCO International, including higher low-enriched uranium supply volumes tied to new enrichment capacity at the American Centrifuge Plant in Ohio.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The supply commitment remains contingent on Centrus receiving the necessary federal funding to build that capacity, but as we clearly identified<\/a> just last week, Centrus should reasonably expect to receive whatever financial support they ask for from the federal government at this point. \u00a0<\/p>\n

General Matter adds another piece to the same puzzle. In March, the Export-Import Bank of the United States issued Letters of Interest<\/a> supporting up to $4.2 billion in potential financing<\/strong> for nuclear fuel sales by General Matter to nuclear power operators in Japan and South Korea.<\/p>\n

The new US-Japan-Korea framework does not name a reactor developer, but it can be reasonably expected that GE Vernova (GEV) will lead the pack given its connection to all three countries. The framework does create a backdrop for additional US-aligned advanced reactor developers trying to work with Asian industrial partners.<\/p>\n

NANO has already started building that lane<\/strong> in South Korea. In January, the company signed an MOU<\/a> with DS Dansuk to advance potential deployment of its KRONOS MMR system in South Korea. Under the agreement, DS Dansuk is expected to help with site identification, supply-chain localization, regulatory engagement, and institutional partnerships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 07\/09\/2026 – 16:40<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

US, Japan, And South Korea Push SMR Exports For “Energy Security Needs” The American nuclear buildout is not just about the climate or powering data centers. It’s a geopolitical war against the export of nuclear technology from Russia and China, mixed with a new demand for national energy security. On the sidelines of the NATO… Continue reading US, Japan, And South Korea Push SMR Exports For “Energy Security Needs”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":632926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-632925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=632925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/632926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=632925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=632925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=632925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}