nuclear-news

US and Japan clash over meltdown liability in $40bn nuclear power deal

 Japan’s participation in a $40bn nuclear power project in the US has hit
a roadblock over fears that its lenders might have to assume liability for
any meltdown on American soil.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi agreed during
a visit to Washington in March that Japan would provide funding and
industrial co-operation to build next-generation small modular reactors in
Tennessee and Alabama.

The project was agreed as part of Tokyo’s
commitment to invest $550bn in the US, a promise given in return for lower
US tariffs on Japanese exports under Donald Trump’s “liberation day”
regime. But details of the project are still being thrashed out between
Tokyo and Washington because of concerns on the Japanese side about their
potential liability in a nuclear accident, according to four people
familiar with the discussions.

The US commerce department has offered
verbal reassurance that the state-backed Japan Bank for International
Cooperation and other Japanese institutions would not take on any liability
for a potential nuclear accident, said the people. A person close to
commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said he had personally assured Japan it
would not have any liability in relation to the projects. However, that
promise has not been put in writing in legal terms — a process that could
take months or years of complex regulatory discussion to settle, said the
people.

 FT 23rd July 2026, https://www.ft.com/content/4b9d0e1a-c423-4b14-a7fe-d4988e24c7c0

July 26, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, Japan, USA