Anchor: A new nuclear pact between South Korea and the U.S. took effect Wednesday. Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se exchanged a document with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Seoul at 6 p.m, to make the pact official. The deal was initialed in April after four-and-a-half years of negotiations and signed in June. The U.S. Congress endorsed it on October 29. 
Our Bae Joo-yon explains how the deal is expected to make it easier for South Korea to export nuclear reactors overseas.
 
Report: South Korean exporters of nuclear reactors are hailing a clause in the revised deal under which the U.S. has granted comprehensive, long-term consent.
 
The clause allows South Korea to save significant time and costs because it exempts Seoul from getting Washington's permission every time the nation exports a reactor technology.
 
Previously, South Korea needed U.S. approval every time it exported nuclear materials as well as reactor equipment and parts produced in the U.S. to a third country.
 
In general, nuclear reactor technology exports are large and contract procedures are complicated. But with the new deal, South Korea only needs the consent of the recipient country to export if that country has a nuclear accord with South Korea and the U.S.
 
The Korea Electric Power Corporation, a key operator of nuclear reactor construction projects in the United Arab Emirates, said the deal is expected to facilitate export procedures. 

South Korea began developing nuclear reactor technology in 1959 with help from the U.S. It took the first step toward exporting reactors when it received an order to build a 14-hundred megawatt research reactor from Jordan in December 2009. In the same month, it secured orders worth 40 billion dollars from the United Arab Emirates to build four reactors developed purely with domestic technology.
 
South Korea has since received orders from Thailand and Malaysia and is seeking to take part in nuclear reactor projects in Turkey, Argentina and Vietnam. In November last year, South Korea entered the European market with an order to renovate a research reactor in the Netherlands and build cold neutron research facilities.
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.