CEO Ghita: Nuclearelectrica is proud to contribute expertise to developing Europe's first SMR

Romania's Nuclearelectrica is hailing the announcement made by US President Biden on the release of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) at the G7 Leaders' Summit in Schloss Elmau that the US is committing 14 million US dollars toward a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study to provide the basis for the deployment of a small modular reactor (SMR) power plant in Romania.

"NuScale's small modular reactor technology, the first and only SMR technology to receive the approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), can support Romania's decarbonisation objectives, simultaneously supporting energy independence and Romania's prosperity. Under the partnership with the United States, by choosing a technology that is already approved and validated by a regulatory agency with long term expertise, Romania also makes sure that its projects in the field of nuclear energy meet the highest standards of nuclear safety. Moreover, with over 25 years of experience in operating at the highest standards two nuclear units, Nuclearelectrica is proud to contribute its expertise to the development of the first small modular reactors in Europe and to be an example to other countries interested in developing their civil nuclear programmes," says Cosmin Ghita, CEO of Nuclearelectrica.

In developing this study, Nuclearelectrica and NuScale will collaborate with USTDA to initiate a package of studies and engineering and design activities, as well as technical analyses of the potential site at Doicesti, which will provide Romania with essential data for the development of the first small modular reactor plant on its soil. The information is essential for cost estimation, rigorous planning of activities and project definition in relation to applicable national and international licencing and regulatory requirements. Also at this stage, potential service providers will be identified for the production of components and their assembly in Romania.

Therefore, through Nuclearelectrica, Romania takes the first steps in implementing, during this decade, the first 6-module 462 Mwe installed capacity NuScale power plant in Europe. It is estimated that the NuScale energy plant will generate 193 permanent jobs, 1,500 jobs in construction, 2,300 jobs in production and will help Romania avoid the generation of 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year.

"Like in the case of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant, the first small modular reactors power plant will generate in the area where it is built clean energy and strong economic growth for the local community by creating thousands of jobs, investment in infrastructure, growth of the chain of local suppliers, tax revenues to the local budget, and it will also contribute to forming a new generation of specialists through investment in high-quality education," according to Ghita. AGERPRES