Turkey and South Korea explore nuclear financing cooperation

Turkey and South Korea have signed two memoranda of understanding to deepen energy cooperation, including a framework for financing nuclear power projects. The accords cover clean energy policy, nuclear plant construction, renewable energy, hydrogen and grid technologies. A bilateral energy transition forum will meet annually to discuss nuclear investments, technology, financing models and joint ventures. Turkey's state nuclear company TÜNAŞ and South Korea's state export bank KEXIM will establish a cooperation framework on financing solutions for Turkish nuclear projects.

Where this fits

This is a case study in how nuclear projects get built when a country commits to them. Turkey is securing both technology partnership and dedicated financing from a major industrial economy. The contrast to Australia is stark: while Turkey and South Korea are binding their institutions together around firm, dispatchable generation, Australia has no equivalent bilateral nuclear financing relationship and continues to exclude nuclear from its generation mix by law. This is a sovereign capability gap. The deal shows that nuclear is not cost-prohibitive when a state treats it as strategic infrastructure rather than a technology to be priced against renewables alone.

What it means

Australia is watching major trading partners and allies move toward nuclear while remaining locked out of that pathway. The financial and technological integration Turkey is securing, state-backed export lending, joint ventures, technology transfer, represents the kind of industrial partnership that builds energy security. Without equivalent access to nuclear financing, technology and joint development, Australia's energy transition will remain dependent on commodity supply chains (particularly China's domination of solar, battery and processing infrastructure) rather than developing strategic capability in firm generation.