Nuclear IP 2025 Trends: Continuing Chinese Dominance, US & South Korea Emerge

In 2023, Giles Pinnington considered filing trends for nuclear energy-related patents in the context of discussing the nuclear landscape (https://www.marks-clerk.com/insights/latest-insights/102jvph-driving-rd-to-build-a-nuclear-industry/). In a search of the 600 most recent patent publications with the term “nuclear reactor” in the title or abstract, 98.7% were first filed in China. The data indicates a near-complete dominance of China in nuclear patent filings. 

We have collated updated data which confirms the trend of Chinese dominance, although not as complete as indicated by the 2023 search.

As acknowledged in the 2023 analysis itself, the search strategy employed was conservative. There is a possibility the small sample size and narrow search strategy provided an incomplete picture.

By broadening the search to include results with the term ‘nuclear’ in addition to those with ‘nuclear reactors’ alone, we can better capture nuclear innovation as a whole, beyond just reactor design (e.g. safety, control systems, waste handling etc). The content searched was also extended to cover the claims. In addition, the sample size was expanded to include all ~1600 applications published in 2025 up to October. 

Table 1: Top 6 countries of first filing for the nuclear energy patents published between January and October 2025.

Clearly the data confirms China’s dominance – Chinese filings outnumber those from the US, South Korea, and France combined. The general picture outlined in 2023 still holds true. This would seem to align with the fact that focus on nuclear energy is an explicit part of China’s central economic strategy- the 14^th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) included ambitious targets to expand nuclear capacity by 40% (https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GEM-China-Nuclear-brief-August2024.pdf).

However, the data from 2025 shows that this dominance is far from complete. The US and South Korea both file significant volumes in both relative and absolute terms:

• United States (US): The US is the clear runner-up in nuclear energy. The large number of filings reflect government initiatives (e.g. the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program) in concert with key private enterprises. For patent applications published between January and October 2025, the Westinghouse Electric Company alone is listed as owner over 100 times.
• South Korea (KR): In the 2023 data South Korea accounted for only one patent in the 600 results. By contrast, the updated data suggest that South Korea is in fact a prolific filer (185 filings), out-filing nations like France, the UK, and Japan. This accords with recent government policy: in 2023, the South Korean government designated nuclear technology as one of ‘12 national strategic priorities’ (https://www.iea.org/policies/27390-5th-basic-science-and-technology-master-plan).

Other countries (e.g. UK, France, Japan) account for much smaller proportions of the filings. 

Regarding the UK’s position, it is notable that 41 of 58 UK-originating applications published in the period examined were from Rolls-Royce, the primary developer of the UK's SMR program. This finding suggests a particularly high degree of specialisation and centralisation in UK nuclear innovation. Rolls-Royce CEO Tufan Erginbilgic stated in a recent BBC interview (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce8772d4jzgo) Rolls-Royce has the ‘potential’ to become the UK's highest-valued company from SMR deals. Recent agreements to build SMR units in Wales and Czechia bear out this possibility. As such we expect Rolls-Royce to continue to drive the UK’s share of nuclear patent filings.

In conclusion, our updated and expanded examination of patent filing trends supports the finding that China continues to dominate output of nuclear energy-related IP. However, the updated data does not show the same near-complete dominance of the 2023 figures. Instead, the updated data reveals a far more multipolar landscape in nuclear R&D which better reflects current national nuclear energy strategies.