Programmes and agreements / prg-sa-kacare-kaeri-smart

K.A.CARE and KAERI cooperation on SMART/SMART100 SMRs for Saudi Arabia

K.A.CARE and KAERI agreed in March 2015 to assess building at least two SMART reactors in Saudi Arabia and carried out pre-project engineering, in 2019 the two countries agreed to cooperate on commercialising SMART, including a reactor in Saudi Arabia. KAERI, KHNP and K.A.CARE jointly obtained Korean standard design approval for SMART100 in September 2024. No Saudi site or construction commitment is recorded.

Not a deployment project. SMR plans, agreements, studies and government programmes that are not (yet) a single deployment project. They are listed separately and are never counted as projects or reactors.

Type

Cooperation agreement or MOU

Countries concerned

Saudi Arabia

Participants and roles

• Government: King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE)
• Developer or vendor: Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute
• Developer or vendor: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power

Designs named

SMART, SMART100

Scale as stated

at least two SMART units envisaged in the 2015 agreement (WNA), no site

Announced or first reported

Mar 2015

Status

Active
Design cooperation and joint design approval in Korea (Sept 2024), design approval is not a Saudi site licence, no Saudi site or construction commitment.

Confidence

low

Last checked

2026-10-14 (record review date, not proof of current activity)

Related deployment projects

• No related deployment project is recorded here.

Sources

• South Korean SMR design approved by regulator (reputable_press, published 26 Sep 2024, accessed 2026-10-14)
• Nuclear Power in Saudi Arabia (directory_or_aggregator, accessed 2026-10-14)