A longer version of this article was published by The Center for the National Interest and it can be found here.
South Korea is blowing a big opportunity to participate in the U.S. nuclear energy buildout, and time is not on its side. To achieve the Trump administration’s objective of beginning construction on 10 new large reactors by 2030, a close partnership between the United States and South Korean nuclear industries is imperative.
But South Korea’s President Lee Jae-myung left his August summit with President Trump with barely a trace of progress on this nuclear partnership. And a highly anticipated Westinghouse-Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) nuclear power joint venture (Team KORUS) faltered before the While House meeting even convened primarily because of Korean tepidness.
There was some progress on the sidelines of the summit as the U.S. agreed to discuss uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, two processes currently limited under the bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement. And, KHNP and Doosan Enerbility paired with X-Energy and Amazon to support the deployment of 5 GW of nuclear power in the United States by 2039.
Political Mistakes
The opening for South Korean participation in American nuclear projects was created in the ADVANCE Act. That legislation lifted a previous ban on foreign ownership of U.S. nuclear plants and opened it to U.S. allies in the OECD and India, with approval from the NRC.
The Trump administration’s aggressive nuclear construction ambitions and determination to win the AI race, is an unprecedented opportunity for the Korean nuclear industry to participate in the building of 10 gigawatts (GW) of nuclear energy in America.
But the relationship seems to be sinking as both sides introduce self-defeating stumbling blocks.
The Trump administration’s tough tariff policy, resulting in 15 percent duties, set a confrontational tone. And the ill-conceived immigration raid at the Hyundai-LG electric vehicle (EV) battery factory in Georgia, is a serious self-inflicted wound that has enraged Korean officials and executives across the ideological spectrum. It could curtail significant Korean industrial investment in America. Under the new U.S-South Korea trade agreement Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in American industries, including nuclear energy.
The Lee government also has made a very questionable decision to open a politically-motivated investigation into the January 2025 agreement between Westinghouse, KHNP, and the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). That deal ended a damaging five-year freeze of nuclear cooperation. It was reached because both sides finally agreed that the Korean reactors contain Westinghouse-licensed components, and they realized that each country needs the other to effectively compete in the global nuclear market.
The deal allows for South Korea’s construction of two new APR-1400 reactors in the Czech Republic, a project that will net the country almost $18 billion and mark its first major nuclear reactor exports since the UAE deal in 2009.
It is unclear what Lee’s end game is in questioning the deal. His party clearly dislikes the agreement, but he is unlikely to get a better one and this risks the country’s position as a reliable nuclear supplier. If the real demand is that a Korean label be affixed to a reactor built in America, that is a long shot at best. And it may result in shooting his own industry in the foot. The Czech deal and many other nuclear energy opportunities could unravel for South Korea including the opportunity for participation in the expansion of the American market.
Nuclear Geopolitics
Further, the inability to come to terms on a bilateral U.S.-South Korean nuclear energy partnership prevents the rapid formation of a powerful and needed response to the state-owned nuclear export companies of Russia and China. Stymying the nuclear exports of these authoritarian nations is a joint political objective.
The Trump administration and American nuclear market are not going to wait for South Korea if it continues to delay. U.S. data centers could quadruple energy demand by 2030, according to one forecast, and construction of these power-hungry facilities is booming in several regions of the country. The data center expansion is being replicated in other industrialized nations creating more nuclear energy opportunity.
Nuclear needs to be ready when the data centers are, and Team KORUS is a democratic nation partnership that can drive that nuclear build-out and benefit both nations. It also would leave Putin and Xi looking on from the sidelines. But it won’t work if the two nations can’t find common ground, and fast.
Ken Luongo, President, Partnership for Global Security
