Romanian electricity producer Nuclearelectrica and Polish metal mining company KGHM have signed a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) for the development of small modular reactor (SMR) projects.
The two companies will exchange experience and know-how for 36 months in the technical, economic, legal, financial and organizational fields for the development of SMR projects to be developed by Romania and Poland. Following the cooperation, Romania and Poland will strengthen their energy security with a secure, stable, affordable and clean source of energy while achieving their decarbonisation goals.
Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita said that the international interest in the development of small modular reactors is directly proportional to the interest of countries in ensuring energy security and achieving decarbonization targets, given the innovative characteristics of this technology: modularity and flexibility, having a direct impact on lower costs and lower development period.
The project that both Romania and Poland will develop in cooperation with US-based nuclear energy technology company NuScale Power will have six modules and will help Romania avoid some 4 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.
In June, US President Joe Biden announced the allocation of a grant of 14 million dollars for the next stage of the development of small modular reactors (SMR) in Romania by US company NuScale – The Preliminary Front-End Engineering and Design study for the SMR project in Romania. For the development of this study, electricity producer Nuclearelectrica and NuScale will cooperate with the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) in order to initiate a series of engineering and design activities and studies, as well further technical analyses of the potential site of Doicesti, which will provide Romania with essential data for the development of the first small modular reactor power plant in Romania. This information is essential to estimate costs, rigorously plan activities and define the project based on the national and international authorization and regulation applicable requirements. Also, potential suppliers of services and manufacturing and assembling in Romania will be identified during this stage.
