Across Southeast Asia, a region that once turned away from nuclear energy in the shadow of Fukushima, governments are returning to the atom with new urgency. Vietnam, Indonesia, and the Philippines have set concrete timelines for nuclear deployment within the next decade, driven by surging electricity demand, fossil fuel dependence, and climate commitments that pull simultaneously in the same direction. Small modular reactors have reopened a door that once seemed closed, offering flexibility to smaller grids and smaller nations. Yet the deeper challenge is not technological but institutional —