Joint Statement on Business Cooperation Signed by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the U.S. Department of Energy
The Ministry of Science and ICT is set to optimize the design of Korea’s export-oriented research pilot model from a nuclear proliferation resistance perspective in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
On the 22nd, First Vice Minister Lee Chang Yoon met with Jill Hruby, the U.S. Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the NNSA, and signed a joint statement on cooperation on the PRO-X project.
Vice Minister Lee said, “Launching two cooperative projects with the U.S. key national laboratories and the NNSA, which oversees safe nuclear research, is a result of expanding the scope and improving the quality of scientific and technological cooperation.” He added, “We will closely communicate with the U.S. to ensure that the cooperation on the PRO-X becomes a representative model case that strengthens the nuclear non-proliferation cooperation system between the two countries.”
The Ministry of Science and ICT expects that this cooperation will contribute to countries wishing to introduce research reactors to introduce and operate them responsibly under the principle of nuclear non-proliferation.
The two sides also checked the readiness and plans for joint research between research institutions in Korea, the U.S., and Japan.
The cooperation among research institutions in Korea, the U.S., and Japan is content to promote joint research and personnel exchange among three national laboratories under the U.S. Department of Energy, research institutions under the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Japanese research institutions, which was agreed upon at the Korea-U.S.-Japan Camp David Summit in August last year.
Following the framework agreement in December last year, signing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) containing specific details on the form of cooperation and governance is soon to be finalized. Both Korea and the U.S. agreed that cooperation among research institutions in three countries is an excellent opportunity to create world-class research results in key and emerging technology fields and pursue mutually beneficial interests. They have also agreed to actively cooperate so that subsequent procedures, such as project and implementing agency selection, can proceed without problems.
