The technology works and the Small Modular Reactors (SMR) business model will work in Romania, Jennifer Granholm, Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy, told AGERPRES on Wednesday.
The next phase of site-specific engineering studies for the Doicesti Small Modular Reactors project was launched on Wednesday, as this carbon-free energy source will help phase out Romania's coal-fired assets and position it as a potential hub of the SMR supply chain.
According to the U.S. official, the costs of the project will be determined by these studies, which are expected to last 13 months.
"So costs are still a question mark. But we want to be helpful. The U.S. does. We feel very strongly about this partnership and very grateful that Romania is leading in. It will take a little bit of time to complete that study. You guys have a goal of 13 months for the study," said Jennifer Granholm, who attended on Tuesday and Wednesday the fifth meeting of the Partnership for Transatlantic Cooperation in Energy and Climate in Bucharest.
As for the fact that the SMR project in Idaho was abandoned, the American official explained that in that case it was not a question of technology problems, but of the fact that there were not enough concentrated customers.
"So the business model didn't work for that site. And so it's a totally different situation here. The technology works. We're very confident in that. It's just a question... And here the business model will work," Granholm said.
Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said that SMR technology promises something beyond the project itself.
"Romania will have the first SMRs in Europe, maybe the world, and will be able to develop the entire supply chain that will fuel additional projects in the entire region. It's normal for the first six modules to cost more than the next six modules, which will cost, you know, more than the next six modules and so on and so forth. That's the principle of first of a kind system. So there's economies of scale. And then and the fact that in Doicesti we don't have a greenfield project, we have a former coal-based plant, very much similar to at least 30 other coal-based plants in the entire region, gives us hope that, the project will be multiplied and all these other sites and of course, the world in particular, will benefit from such projects," the Romanian minister pointed out.
Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) are advanced nuclear reactors that have an installed capacity of up to 300 Mwe/reactor, which is about one third of a reactor's capacity, in the order of gigawatts. A NuScale small modular reactor has an installed capacity of 77 Mwe and can be used in 4, 6 or 12 module power plants, depending on the needs, according to Nuclearelectrica.
Based on the agreement between SNN and NuScale, NuScale will support Nuclearelectrica in the evaluation of this technology and, together, the two companies will adopt measures for the development of small modular reactors in Romania.
In June last year, Nuclearelectrica, NuScale Power, E-INFRA, Nova Power & Gas, Fluor Enterprises and Samsung C&T Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on the deployment of NuScale VOYGR plants to Central and Eastern Europe and Romania.
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