On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan and South Korea signed a Memorandum of Cooperation for the joint deployment of small modular reactors — SMRs — in third countries, with an explicit focus on the Indo-Pacific region. The signatories were US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun. The agreement transforms what has until now been a security-focused alliance into something more tangible: a commercial partnership in the civilian nuclear energy sector.
The memorandum establishes a framework to support private companies from the three countries in accessing foreign SMR markets. Its stated goal is to strengthen energy security across the Indo-Pacific by offering regional nations an alternative to reliance on Chinese or Russian energy supplies, while also upholding high standards on nuclear safety and non-proliferation. Alongside the agreement, Washington announced the launch of an industrial initiative involving GE Vernova, Hitachi, Samsung C&T and SGE for the deployment of the BWRX-300 reactor — the 300-megawatt model developed on the basis of the GE-Hitachi design. Funds allocated under the agreement will also be used to establish an SMR Regional Training Hub for the training of local technical personnel.
Negotiations among the three governments began in the first half of 2025. The signing came at a time when energy supply concerns had intensified due to rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. A South Korean ministry official confirmed that talks are already underway with an unidentified Indo-Pacific country on a trilateral consortium. The signal is clear: the three capitals intend to move beyond declarations and reach real contracts within a few years. The region offers fertile ground. Northeast Asian nations are actively investing in SMR technology development, while Southeast Asian countries are exploring modular reactors as a future source of clean energy.
Vietnam is one of the most concrete examples. The Vietnamese National Assembly reinstated the country’s nuclear energy plan in 2024, reintroducing nuclear power into the national energy development strategy and passing an atomic energy law in 2025. Under an existing civil nuclear cooperation agreement, US companies are already assisting Vietnam in developing nuclear safety systems and SMR reactors. Vietnam is widely considered the most likely candidate for the first joint trilateral consortium, though no government has officially confirmed this. Competition with Moscow and Beijing for Asian nuclear markets is direct and intensifying.
On the industrial side, the selection of the BWRX-300 as the flagship technology of the alliance reflects a deliberate strategy. It is one of the most advanced SMR models in the licensing process: GE-Hitachi has already received preliminary approvals in Canada and the United Kingdom, while Samsung C&T brings industrial-scale construction capability to the table. The agreement is designed to foster cooperation among companies from all three countries for SMR deployment in third nations and to reinforce energy security across the Indo-Pacific. If the first project comes to fruition, it could serve as a replicable template for dozens of plants over the next two decades. The stakes extend well beyond energy: what is really at play is who will build the nuclear infrastructure of emerging Asia.
