US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu and Republic of Korea Foreign Minister Cho Hyun signed a Memorandum of Cooperation on small modular reactor deployment in other countries on July 7, 2026. The ceremony took place on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Ankara, Türkiye.
What the three governments agreed
The memorandum commits the United States, Japan and South Korea to work jointly on deploying small modular reactors, a class of compact nuclear plants built from standardized parts in a factory, then shipped and assembled on site rather than constructed entirely in place like conventional large reactors. Rubio called energy security "one of the most important issues in the world today," pointing to events in the Straits of Hormuz as a reminder of the stakes. He described the reactors as a safer, lower-cost route to power generation that would strengthen all three economies, and framed the signing as a concrete result of the countries' trilateral forum.
The release does not name which countries would receive the reactors, give a capacity figure, or attach a dollar amount to the cooperation. It also sets no timeline for moving from the memorandum to an actual project.
A three-way effort that predates this signing
Motegi said the three countries have been working together since last October, pointing to joint efforts to strengthen the supply chain for critical minerals and to counter North Korea's cyber threats. He called the SMR memorandum a further, tangible result of that ongoing work and said the three delegations planned more detailed discussion to build on it.
Rubio also pointed to the bilateral relationship between Japan and South Korea, saying it "has grown stronger over the last three to four years" even though it has been tested in the past. Cho opened his remarks by congratulating Rubio on the 250th anniversary of the United States, referencing formal remarks he had delivered at a reception in Seoul, and said the SMR pact was one of many areas where the three countries could cooperate. He also credited Rubio's part in efforts toward peace in the Middle East and other regions.
