Programmes and agreements / prg-sv-nuclear-programme

El Salvador nuclear power programme with early SMR evaluation (OIPEN, US DOE memorandum, 2026)

El Salvador's long-term energy planning envisages nuclear power supplying about 15% of electricity by 2050, potentially through small modular reactors, and an IAEA INIR mission in 2026 noted the country's early evaluation of SMR technologies. The programme, run by OIPEN, began with a 2023 memorandum with the Thorium Energy Alliance, in March 2026 El Salvador signed a memorandum with the US Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy. No design, vendor or site has been selected.

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

National plan

Countries concerned

El Salvador

Participants and roles

• Government: Organismo para la Implementación del Programa de Energía Nuclear (OIPEN)
• Government: US Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy
• Other participant: Thorium Energy Alliance

Designs named

—

Scale as stated

Nuclear about 15% of electricity by 2050, potentially through SMRs, no units, design or site

Announced or first reported

10 Mar 2026

Status

Active
IAEA Milestones Phase 1 (INIR May 2026), candidate sites reviewed (SEED 2025) but not confirmed, no design or vendor

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

• El Salvador advances nuclear readiness (reputable_press, published 27 May 2026, accessed 2026-10-14)
• El Salvador firma acuerdo con Estados Unidos para desarrollar energía nuclear, así avanza el proyecto (reputable_press, published 10 Mar 2026, accessed 2026-10-14)
• WNA Emerging Nuclear Energy Countries profile listing (directory_or_aggregator, accessed 2026-10-06)