US Nuclear Push Gets a $120 Billion Korea Framework for AP1000s While the Palisades Restart Stalls on a Tipped Fuel Assembly
On 30 September the US and South Korea announced a framework for up to $120 billion in Korean investment to finance eight large reactors on federal sites: six Westinghouse AP1000s in three two-unit plants, and two Korean-designed APR1400s. Korea would take a 5% to 10% stake in Westinghouse. The terms aren’t binding.
The same day, Holtec filed for permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to retrieve a fuel assembly that tipped over during fuel loading at the Palisades plant in Michigan on 30 August. The NRC noted “significant bowing” of the assembly. Fuel loading is paused, and there’s no new restart date for what was meant to be the first US reactor to come back after shutting down.
The federal role
Washington now acts as lender, landlord and dealmaker for large reactors. In October 2025 the government struck a partnership with Westinghouse and its owners for at least $80 billion of AP1000 construction. In June 2026 DOE’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing conditionally committed $17.5 billion in loans for long-lead parts for up to ten AP1000s, five two-unit projects, with each owner putting up $500 million of equity up front. Westinghouse says it has letters of intent from seven potential partners. No utilities or sites have been named. We covered the loan office’s shift in an earlier post.
Restarts
Three shut-down plants are being brought back with federal loans:
- Palisades, 805 megawatts, with a $1.52 billion loan guarantee from 2024;
- Crane, the former Three Mile Island Unit 1, 835 megawatts, with a $1 billion loan closed in November 2025 and power sold to Microsoft, aiming for 2027;
- Duane Arnold in Iowa, 615 megawatts, with a loan of up to $1.9 billion closed on 8 September 2026, aiming for early 2029 at the latest, with Google buying the power.
The small reactors
The President’s 2025 executive orders set a goal of three test reactors reaching criticality by 4 July 2026. Four did: Antares and Deployable Energy at Idaho National Laboratory, Valar Atomics in Utah, and Aalo, which went critical 20 minutes into 4 July. All four are zero-power tests that produce no electricity. The next step is power, with several developers aiming for 2027.
The regulator
The NRC has been rewriting its rules under a 2025 executive order. Its new licensing framework for advanced reactors, Part 53, was finalised in April 2026 with a goal of decisions in 18 months or less. In September it proposed further changes, including ending the 15-year expiry on approved reactor designs, and it has started 23 rulemakings since the order.
What it adds up to
The policy has moved from studies to signed money. The test is construction. The last two AP1000s built in the US, at Vogtle in Georgia, came in years late and billions over budget, though the second went faster than the first. Korea builds reactors on time at home, which is part of why Washington wants Korean money and its builders. The Korea deal still has to become contracts, the AP1000 loans still need named owners, and Palisades still needs to get its fuel in.