South Korea Plans $120 Billion Investment in Eight U.S. Nuclear Reactors

The scale and structure of Seoul's proposed U.S. Energy commitments reveal a negotiating dynamic in which South Korea retains explicit conditions for withdrawal, complicating the prospect of...

South Korea has announced plans to invest approximately $120 billion in the construction of eight nuclear reactors on U.S. Soil, marking what would be the first deployment of Korean-designed reactors in the United States, according to Hankyoreh.

The nuclear investment is one component of a broader package of South Korean capital commitments to the United States that Korean officials have described publicly in recent days. A separate element involves roughly 68 trillion Korean won, equivalent to approximately $50 billion at current exchange rates, directed toward the Alaska liquefied natural gas pipeline project, according to Hankyoreh.

Kim Jeong-gwan, a senior South Korean official involved in the investment discussions, stated that South Korea could halt its U.S. Capital contributions if the commercial viability of the projects is compromised, according to Hankyoreh. Kim also stated that profit from the investments would be split on a 50-50 basis with U.S. Counterparts until the principal and interest are recovered, as reported by the same outlet.

The Alaska investment announcement was made publicly by the Trump administration before South Korea had finalized its internal approvals, according to Hankyoreh. The same report noted that U.S. Companies had already begun operational work on the Alaska project at the time of the announcement, suggesting the U.S. Side moved forward independently of the completion of South Korean decision-making processes.

A Texas project has been identified as the first priority investment under the broader South Korean U.S. Capital program. The site is located in a small Texas city previously associated with natural gas extraction, which is being repositioned as a power infrastructure hub for artificial intelligence data centers, according to Hankyoreh. The report did not specify the exact city or the identity of the South Korean entity designated to lead that investment.

The nuclear component of the package is the largest single item by dollar value. Eight reactors at a combined cost of $120 billion would average $15 billion per unit, which is consistent with the cost range reported for large-scale pressurized water reactor construction in recent years in Western countries, though actual per-unit costs vary significantly by site, regulatory jurisdiction, and financing structure. The specific reactor design to be used was not named in the source reporting.

South Korea operates the APR-1400 reactor design domestically and exported it to the United Arab Emirates through the Barakah nuclear plant project, which began commercial operations in 2021, according to the World Nuclear Association. A U.S. Deployment would represent a separate regulatory and commercial pathway, as reactors built in the United States require Nuclear Regulatory Commission design certification, a process that has historically taken years.

The condition stated by Kim Jeong-gwan regarding the option to suspend investment if commercial viability is damaged introduces a formal reservation into the public framing of the deal. Whether that condition is contained in a signed agreement, a memorandum of understanding, or remains a stated negotiating position is not established by the available source material. The text of any agreement between the two governments had not been published as of the date of this report.

The Trump administration's interest in attracting large foreign capital commitments to U.S. Energy and infrastructure projects has been a stated policy goal in 2026, and South Korea has been among the countries engaged in those discussions. The sequencing of public announcements ahead of South Korean internal approvals, as described by Hankyoreh, raises questions about coordination between the two governments that the source reporting does not fully resolve.

What would clarify the current status of these commitments includes the release of any signed agreement or term sheet, a formal statement from South Korea's Ministry of Economy and Finance or Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and a Nuclear Regulatory Commission filing or pre-application notice related to a Korean reactor design. None of those documents were publicly available as of September 30, 2026.