Romanian Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu said that the construction of new nuclear units and modular reactors are part of Romania’s agenda for decarbonization and security of supply for decades to come, and the partnership with the United States is essential for its implementation.
New nuclear power plants and SMRs (small modular reactors) are part of our decarbonization and security of supply agenda for the coming decades. Therefore, the partnership with the US is essential, given that our country and the US see nuclear energy as a long-term contributor to achieving climate goals, while ensuring energy security and improving the competitiveness of our economies by creating jobs with a high level of expertise, Minister Popescu concluded.
Last November, Nuclearelectrica and US company NuScale Power have agreed to deploy the first small modular reactor (SMR) in Romania. This agreement took place after the White House announced earlier this week that the US company would build a small modular nuclear reactor in Romania, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis had a meeting with the US President’s special representative for climate John Kerry on this topic.
According to Nuclearelectrica, NuScale Power is the only company that has received the approval of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to design and develop a small modular reactor, an essential step in building and implementing SMR technology.
During his recent visit to nuclear power plant Cernavoda, Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca said that, given the taxonomy recently approved by the European Commission, which has accepted nuclear energy as a transition energy, Romanian Government supports the construction of NPP Cernavoda’s units 3 and 4 and the refurbishment of unit 1. It also supports the acceleration of the projects for the implementation of small modular nuclear reactors (SMR). These projects will contribute to Romania’s energy independence, in accordance with the European vision of protecting the environment and reducing CO2 emissions.
