South Korea Puts Up-to-$10B US Nuclear Advance Under Feasibility Review

South Korea's finance minister, Lee Hyoung-il, told a parliamentary budget committee on Nov. 9 that a planned $10 billion advance for a US nuclear power project will go ahead only after a full review of its business feasibility, Reuters reported.

Lee said the remittance plan is still at a preliminary stage and will be reviewed carefully. Industry vice-minister Park Dong-il told the same session that no investment decision on the Alaska LNG project, another part of Seoul's US investment package, has been finalised. The minister described a review, not a cancellation. Reuters did not report a cancellation or a transfer.

The advance matters because of what it was meant to buy. Kyunghyang Shinmun reported on Nov. 7 that the up-to-$10 billion was intended to secure key components such as reactor pressure vessels and steam generators, which it described as parts that take years to manufacture.

What the framework covers

The money belongs to a framework that Seoul and Washington unveiled on Sept. 30 in Washington (Oct. 1 in Seoul), under the $200 billion investment commitment the two governments signed in November 2025. According to The Korea Times, it covers eight large reactors: two Korean-designed APR1400 units and six Westinghouse AP1000 units, with up to $120 billion in funding. That figure includes about $100 billion for construction, excluding financing, and a $20 billion contingency. Korea could provide up to $10 billion by the end of this year to order long-lead equipment, pending the necessary legal approvals, the paper said.

Korea's trade ministry laid out the build order at a forum on Oct. 7, according to Asia Business Daily: two AP1000 units first, then two APR1400 and two AP1000 units, then a final two AP1000 units. Each pair of reactors is budgeted at $30 billion, made up of $25 billion in project costs and a $5 billion reserve. The ministry said sites and other specifics are expected to take shape by 2028. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has said, in his words, that the plants will be built in Ohio, Tennessee, South Carolina and other states.

No project agreement signed yet

The framework sets broad terms only. Industry minister Kim Jung-kwan said at the framework's unveiling that final decisions on each project come after sites, project structures and construction schedules are settled, commercial reasonableness is reviewed and parliamentary procedures are completed. Kyunghyang reported that the advance itself is conditional on that review and on reporting to the National Assembly. At an Oct. 12 audit, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) president Kim Hoe-chun said KHNP, Korea Electric Power Corp. and Westinghouse had not yet signed a specific project agreement, and that licensing fees and equipment supply for the two APR1400 units had been agreed only at a general level.

What a framework review means for reactors

A framework sets broad terms: which reactors, in what order and under what budget ceiling. It does not bind anyone to buy. Final decisions on each project follow only once sites, structures and schedules are set and the reviews are done, and no project agreement with Westinghouse has been signed.

The advance would pay up front for parts such as reactor pressure vessels and steam generators. Because it sits behind the same commercial-reasonableness review and a report to the National Assembly, the review works as a gate rather than a cancellation: no order can be placed with that money until it clears.

For data-center operators counting on new firm capacity in the 2030s, the program is so far a pipeline of intentions. None of the reports we read give a total output for the eight reactors, a specific site for any unit, or a target date for first power. It is separate from other US AP1000 plans, such as the six-reactor Kentucky campus The Nuclear Company proposed in October.

What is not confirmed yet

Seoul has not said when the feasibility review will finish or whether the full $10 billion will be sent by the end of the year. No US response to the minister's remarks has been reported. The US Commerce Department's own announcements of the projects could not be read, so the framework's terms here come from Korean ministry statements as carried by Korean outlets. Reactor sites, the project agreement with Westinghouse and the construction schedule all remain open.