South Korea nears $100B deal to build eight US reactors

South Korea is in the final stretch of a US energy package worth more than $100 billion — up to eight nuclear reactors, led by Westinghouse AP1000s with Kepco APR1400s to follow, plus a roughly $20 billion Texas gas plant for AI data centers. The Wall Street Journal reports an agreement could be announced as early as next week.

Key facts

• The Wall Street Journal reports South Korea is nearing an energy investment in the United States worth more than $100 billion, covering up to eight nuclear power plants plus a natural-gas project for America's AI build-out, with an agreement possible as early as next week.
• Seoul is prepared to make an initial payment of more than $2 billion before the end of September if the deals proceed.
• The first reactors would use Westinghouse's AP1000 design, with some subsequent units potentially using Kepco's APR1400; US government-owned land is among the likely sites.
• The nuclear program rides on last October's tariff pact: the US cut tariffs on Korean goods from 25% to 15% in exchange for $350 billion in pledged US manufacturing investment plus $100 billion in energy purchases.
• Korean press detail the gas half of the package: a 6.3 GW combined-cycle plant at Encinal, Texas, agreed at roughly $22 billion, phased from a 1.4 GW gas-turbine unit up to 4.9 GW, with a memorandum of understanding eyed for 18 September.
• Nobody will confirm it on the record: South Korea's trade ministry says no decisions have been made, the White House declined comment, and Kepco and Westinghouse would not comment.

What happened

The Wall Street Journal's reporting, carried by the Reuters wire, puts a timeline on a story that has been building for a month. South Korea is nearing the announcement of a major energy investment in the United States worth more than $100 billion, negotiated as the energy pillar of the trade deal Presidents Trump and Lee Jae Myung struck last October. Under that pact, Washington lowered most tariffs on South Korean goods from 25% to 15 percent — autos included — in exchange for Seoul pledging $350 billion in US manufacturing investment and $100 billion in American energy purchases. Progress stalled enough that Trump threatened in January to restore the higher tariffs.

The nuclear component is the headline. The Journal reports up to eight reactors on American soil — the first wave using Westinghouse's AP1000, with some later units potentially using Kepco's homegrown APR1400, and US government-owned land among the likely sites. That sequencing resolves, at least in draft, the technology contest that dominated earlier rounds.

The gas component anchors the AI angle directly. Reuters puts the Texas natural-gas project at roughly $20 billion, purpose-built to power data centers. Korean reporting from a 7 September closed-door ministry briefing is more specific: the plant is a 6.3 GW combined-cycle facility at Encinal, Texas, priced near $22 billion after haggling between Seoul's $20 billion opening and Washington's $25 billion ask. The plan phases a 1.4 GW gas-turbine unit first to test demand, then scales to 4.9 GW of combined-cycle capacity.

All sides are staying formally silent. South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said no decisions have been made on US investments; the White House declined comment; Westinghouse did not comment immediately; Kepco cited ongoing discussions. Typical discipline for a deal in its final stretch — and the Journal reports Seoul is ready to move more than $2 billion this month if it closes.

Why it matters

This is the largest international reactor-build story of the year, and it lands in the middle of the AI power scramble. The gas plant exists explicitly to serve data centers; the reactors would add up to roughly 8.8 GW of firm nuclear capacity behind the same demand wall. That fits the pattern the IEA has been quantifying all summer: conditional data-center nuclear off-take agreements have climbed from 25 GW to 45 GW in under a year, and hyperscalers now sit across the table from vendors rather than in the audience.

For the US, eight Korean-financed reactors would be the first large-build program of this scale since Vogtle — arriving just as Westinghouse scales its AP1000 pipeline under Cameco and Brookfield ownership and works to renew its NRC design certification. For South Korea, an APR1400 slot in the follow-on units would be the design's first foothold on US soil and its first large-reactor export beyond the UAE's Barakah plant. And for the fuel cycle, sustained new demand lands on a US uranium supply chain that has only begun to recover.

Background

NNN has tracked this deal since it surfaced as a framework. On 8 September, Korean press confirmed Seoul was reviewing a comprehensive framework for eight reactors with a possible 18 September MOU, while the fleet mix was still contested — Washington wanted ten AP1000s with Korean equipment, Seoul countered with the APR1400, and analysts described the first four units as split two-and-two. The Journal's latest reporting settles the direction of travel: AP1000 first, APR1400 in the follow-on tranche.

The money mechanics matter too. Of the $350 billion tariff package, roughly $150 billion is earmarked for shipbuilding, leaving $200 billion for semiconductors, nuclear, biopharmaceuticals and other priority sectors. Washington has proposed allocating $120 billion of that $200 billion to the eight reactors; Seoul is pushing softer language about "cooperation on building eight nuclear power plants" rather than a locked dollar figure — a distinction that determines how much of the commitment is Korean-built, Korean-supplied and Korean-recycled capital. Samsung Electronics and SK hynix memory-fab investments, long an American demand, are explicitly excluded from this tranche.

The Encinal gas plant is the deliberate fast leg of the strategy. Nuclear takes a decade; a phased gas turbine can serve a data-center load in a few years. That is the same bridge-to-nuclear logic behind Blue Energy and GVH's 2.5 GW Texas gas-plus-nuclear project, and the reason restart economics now look attractive to utilities serving hyperscale load, as the Duane Arnold restart financing showed. Public opinion is quietly accommodating the buildout: Gallup found local support rises when communities associate nuclear with AI data centers.

What's next

The next hard checkpoint is the MOU. Korean press report both sides eyeing 18 September for a signing, and the Journal reports an announcement could come as early as next week, with the first $2 billion-plus payment due before month-end if talks conclude. Before signing, the package must clear a Korea-US Strategic Investment Project Management Committee review and a finance-minister-chaired operations committee, then go to the National Assembly — the 7 September closed-door briefing to ruling-party lawmakers was the final political step in that sequence.

Watch three variables. First, the fleet mix in the final language: whether the APR1400 earns a named role or stays a vague "subsequent units" possibility. Second, siting: US government-owned land suggests DOE or defense-site candidates, where licensing and interconnection paths differ from greenfield commercial sites. Third, the dollar framing: a locked $120 billion reactor line item versus cooperative language decides how much of the spend flows back to Korean EPC and equipment suppliers. Until the ministries put signatures on paper, the trade ministry's line — no decisions made — is the only on-record position.