Commodities
US, Japan, South Korea Sign Pact to Accelerate SMR Deployment Across Indo-Pacific
The US, Japan and South Korea have signed a trilateral memorandum of cooperation to accelerate the deployment of small modular reactors, particularly across the Indo-Pacific, to reinforce energy security and expand civil nuclear cooperation.The agreement was signed on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkiye, by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun, the US Department of State said in a media release.The memorandum establishes a framework for cooperation among the three allies, aimed at fostering fleet deployment models which can reduce project risks, lower costs through economies of scale, attract private investment, streamline licensing and strengthen nuclear supply chains.The State Department also said that the coordinated approach is intended to position US, Japanese and South Korean companies as competitive suppliers of advanced nuclear technology while promoting high standards for nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation.The US has also committed $10 million in state funding as part of the initiative, aimed at providing technical assistance to Indo-Pacific countries pursuing nuclear power.Besides this, the department also unveiled industry collaborations involving GE Vernova (GEV), Hitachi, Samsung C&T and SGE to advance deployment of the BWRX-300 small modular reactor across Europe.
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