By Jackie Toth –<\/p>\n\n\n\n
March 3, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States\u2019 250th birthday isn\u2019t the only notable milestone of 2026. Feb. 3 marked the 70th anniversary of U.S.-Korean cooperation on nuclear energy. Since signing our first peaceful nuclear energy agreement in 1956, civil nuclear cooperation has remained a cornerstone of America\u2019s relationship with the Republic of Korea (ROK). Over this period, both of our countries have built strong domestic nuclear industries to achieve energy security, power economic growth, and reduce emissions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with any partnership of such economic magnitude, occasional disagreements have affected the extent of our cooperation on nuclear energy. But the partnership has remained strong, and significant opportunities are at hand to strengthen it further. I cover these opportunities in a recent report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
U.S. and Korean companies today have a long historical foundation on which to build new collaborations. Starting in the 1970s, South Korea, through KEPCO, bought its first commercial nuclear reactors straight from Westinghouse. Even as South Korea increasingly took on more of its reactor construction and development activities, U.S. subcontractors\u2019 involvement continued. Today\u2019s flourishing Korean nuclear industry continues to present economic opportunities to America: Westinghouse participated in South Korea\u2019s successful and massive Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant project in Abu Dhabi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our countries have also shown that we can cooperate effectively even in the face of challenges. The 2015 U.S.-ROK 123 agreement took years to ratify as the two parties negotiated whether South Korea would be able to enrich and reprocess uranium fuel under the deal. Ultimately, the agreement punted the question. In 2025, however, President Trump gently reopened discussion of the topic during his state visit to South Korea, and ROK leadership is ensuring that these conversations continue. On the business side, Westinghouse-KEPCO and KHNP in early 2025 resolved disagreements over intellectual property rights that had frozen bilateral nuclear cooperation since 2022. The companies reached a mutually agreeable solution, although the publication of the settlement\u2019s terms has caused heartburn on both sides. In the views of U.S. and Korean nuclear policy experts, the companies and the countries should recognize instead that it is to their mutual benefit not to split up global nuclear markets between them, but to apply toward bids together \u2014 perhaps in trilateral collaboration with Japan, which would offer significant fuel cycle expertise, as well as heavy manufacturing and supply chain support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United States and South Korea have complementary competitive advantages. The United States remains a leader in nuclear energy innovation, fuel enrichment, and regulation, but it lacks the necessary nuclear manufacturing capability, nuclear project management expertise, and workforce to significantly expand its domestic reactor fleet, let alone to meaningfully increase its reactor exports. In contrast, South Korea has the manufacturing capacity to produce reactor vessels and steam generators, many of which are already in use in U.S. reactors. Korean companies also have continuous experience managing nuclear projects and a comparatively ready nuclear workforce. Because we each plan to expand our civil nuclear economies, these synergies impel closer U.S.-ROK nuclear cooperation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
America, in particular, faces worsening nuclear workforce constraints. The Trump administration and Westinghouse are reportedly moving forward with plans announced in October 2025 to facilitate new, fleet-scale reactor deployment, and Westinghouse says it is confident that the U.S. nuclear supply chain can support several new reactor projects simultaneously. But mobilizing a ready and capable workforce presents a challenge. As Paul J. Saunders and I noted elsewhere, the United States does not have the necessary nuclear workforce or project management capability today to develop many new nuclear projects simultaneously. Doing so will require more electricians, welders, and pipefitters than are available: Already, nuclear developers are competing against data centers and other energy developers for qualified laborers. It doesn\u2019t help that for the first time since 1935, the United States is experiencing net-negative migration, with more people leaving the country than entering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While South Korea has a comparatively strong nuclear workforce, it too will struggle with a shortage of skilled workers if it undertakes multiple reactor builds simultaneously at home and around the world. A key area of US-ROK cooperation should therefore be to expand and train our nuclear workforces cooperatively through joint programs and talent pipelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several such programs already exist or can be further adapted to increase the available number of nuclear-trained workers. The KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS) educates nuclear engineering and policy professionals, including international students. South Korea has also developed several nuclear safety and security education programs: The Korea Institute of Nuclear Nonproliferation and Control (KINAC) and the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) run training courses with the IAEA. In 2014, KINAC opened the International Nuclear Security Education and Training Center in Seoul, which has run over 10 nuclear security training programs for Korean and international professionals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cultural and technical exchanges between our students remain another important way to build lasting working relationships as these students enter their professions. The college student-led Korea-America Student Conference supports an annual exchange program for Koreans and Americans. Participants even conduct a roundtable on \u201cenergy policy and nuclear cooperation,\u201d encouraging youth to identify ways to strengthen our nuclear energy partnership. Thoughtfully leveraging or scaling such programs would be one early means of increasing bilateral nuclear workforce development. Relatedly, joint nuclear energy R&D programs, such as that between KAERI and the University of Missouri, should progress. Its leadership might also consider evaluating the workforce implications of their research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For its part, the United States must not take the support and investment of its partners for granted. In 2025, 89% of South Koreans considered the United States their most important ally, and 86% saw the U.S. as the leading global economic power \u2014 the highest percentage among citizens polled. Yet in just one year, compared to 2024, the percentage of Koreans with favorable views of the United States had dropped 16 points to 61%. Fewer South Koreans now study in the United States than on the eve of the 50th anniversary of US-ROK nuclear cooperation: In 2005, 86,000 students from South Korea studied in U.S. schools \u2013 more than from any other nation. By 2024, the number appears to have dropped by half to 43,000, reducing the number of formative relationships that we build and sustain together. Amid ongoing bilateral tariff and investment negotiations, America must remember that a partnership goes both ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protecting the US-ROK relationship also remains a nuclear security imperative. With the global non-proliferation regime under strain and more countries seeking reactor technology, cooperation is critical to preserving global nonproliferation standards. Like the United States, South Korea is a global leader in nuclear disarmament. Its scholastic and industry partners are aligned on the importance of upholding nonproliferation norms when exporting nuclear technology. As Jeon and Orta have noted in The National Interest, South Korea has built a strong nuclear economy while maintaining robust nonproliferation standards. The United States should celebrate this achievement and strengthen its civil and military nuclear cooperation with both South Korea and Japan. Presenting a unified bid to countries that wish to be geostrategically aligned with our three nations is the best chance America has to expand its civil nuclear exports and to promote norms of nuclear nonproliferation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we look to the next 70 years of US-ROK nuclear energy cooperation, we must consider quickly taking steps that further our mutual interests. If we are both serious about expanding our domestic reactor fleets and winning projects abroad, maintaining a close partnership will continue to benefit our two nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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* * * * * The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of any other organization or any government. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Jackie Toth <\/strong>is the owner of New Hill Consulting, providing strategic communications and federal affairs support to nuclear and other energy industry clients in Washington, D.C. As a journalist, Toth reported on U.S. federal nuclear energy laws, regulations, and policy trends before working at several energy policy organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Jackie Toth – March 3, 2026 The United States\u2019 250th birthday isn\u2019t the only notable milestone of 2026. Feb. 3 marked the 70th anniversary of U.S.-Korean cooperation on nuclear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7176,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,60,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-backgroundersanalysis","category-expert-brief","category-publicationsmultimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6773"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7673,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6773\/revisions\/7673"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thegabi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}