South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology has passed a special small modular reactor (SMR) development act in the National Assembly as the country aims to catch up with others in the SMR race.

The ministry confirmed the news on its website. It said that until now South Korea had focused on developing large-scale nuclear plants, while other countries such as the US and UK had already enacted laws to support the growth of SMRs.

Under the new legislation, the ministry said it would establish an SMR development plan and implementation plan, which it would update every five years and which would cover SMR development goals, R&D and promotion strategies and financing.