Turkey and South Korea Agree on Nuclear Financing Deal
Turkey and South Korea signed two memoranda of understanding on nuclear cooperation during President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visit to Seoul, with one agreement specifically aimed at setting up financing arrangements for Turkey’s next generation of nuclear projects. The signings, confirmed November 3, came as the two governments separately said talks on a possible Korean-backed nuclear plant at Sinop are “progressing smoothly.”
Two deals, two different jobs
The first MOU, signed by Turkey’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Alparslan Bayraktar and South Korea’s Minister of Climate, Energy and Environment Kim Sung-whan, is the broader of the two. It covers clean energy policy, emissions reduction, nuclear plant construction, renewables, hydrogen, energy efficiency, smart grids and other technologies, and it establishes a bilateral energy transition forum that will meet annually as what both sides describe as the “highest-level implementation mechanism” for discussions on nuclear investment, technology and joint ventures.
The second, more targeted agreement was signed between Türkiye Nuclear Energy Company (TÜNAŞ) and the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM). According to Turkey’s energy ministry, it creates a framework for financing options covering all nuclear projects undertaken through TÜNAŞ, with the two institutions set to cooperate on financial modelling, analysis and financing structures through a working group that will exchange information on a regular basis.
Sinop still in the evaluation stage
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s office said the two leaders confirmed that cooperation on a prospective nuclear plant at Sinop, on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, is “progressing smoothly,” including site evaluation and work by a joint technical team. Seoul said the new financing MOU is meant to help lay the groundwork for Korean companies to participate in Turkey’s upcoming nuclear projects, of which Sinop would be the most advanced. Neither government’s statement specified a capacity figure or financing structure for Sinop itself — the agreements signed this week are financing and cooperation frameworks, not an investment decision on any specific plant.
Turkey has kept more than one option open for Sinop over the years. Bayraktar said in March 2024 that Turkey was in talks with both Russia and South Korea over the site, while also discussing a possible third nuclear plant in Thrace with China. South Korea’s KEPCO had separately proposed building four APR-1400 reactors at an undisclosed site in northern Turkey back in January 2023. This week’s MOUs suggest Seoul remains in contention for Sinop specifically, though Ankara has not ruled out other partners for its wider nuclear expansion.
Building on Akkuyu, aiming at SMRs
Turkey’s only operating nuclear program so far is Akkuyu, where Russia’s Rosatom is building four VVER-1200 reactors under a build-own-operate model. The 4,800-megawatt plant is expected to supply roughly 10% of Turkey’s electricity once all four units are running, a target the government has set for the end of 2028; Akkuyu’s first unit recently cleared hydraulic testing, one of the final milestones before fuel loading. Sinop and a potential Thrace plant would be entirely separate projects built on different sites with different partners and technology.
Beyond large reactors, Turkey has also been laying groundwork for smaller nuclear technology. The government has said it wants to add 5 gigawatts of small modular reactor (SMR) capacity by 2050 — implying at least 16 individual units — and signed a separate agreement with the United States in September to study nine small modular and next-generation reactor designs. The Korean financing MOU does not mention SMRs specifically, but it gives TÜNAŞ a dedicated channel for structuring financing on whichever projects move forward, large or small.
Sources
- World Nuclear News, “Turkey and South Korea agree on nuclear financing cooperation,” November 3, 2026 — MOU details, ministry statements and Sinop and Akkuyu context.
- Turkey Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, statement on the TÜNAŞ-KEXIM financing MOU, November 3, 2026 — financing framework details.
- Office of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, statement on the Erdoğan visit, November 3, 2026 — confirmation of progress on Sinop site evaluation.
Illustrative image. Photo: Rosatom Digital Press Office/АО «Аккую Нуклеар», CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — source
