A South Korean-led consortium has won a contract to handle the initial design phase of a U.S. research reactor project.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said Thursday that the consortium, consisting of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Hyundai Engineering and the U.S. nuclear power engineering firm MPR, signed the deal with Missouri University.

Under the deal, the consortium will take charge of the first phase of the Next Generation Missouri University Research Reactor project, also called NextGen MURR. 

This will entail looking into conditions at the construction site for the 20-megawatt thermal reactor and conducting an environmental assessment. 

Science Minister Yoo Sang-im hailed the successful bid, saying that South Korea, which received assistance from the United States when it first introduced nuclear technology, has now advanced to the point where it can export research reactor designs to the U.S.