The meeting comes after the announcement made by US President Biden, the allocation of a grant of USD$14 million for the next stage of the development of NuScale SMRs in Romania – the Preliminary Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study for the SMR project in Romania.
The working meeting objective was to present the local authorities with the NuScale technology features, its safety, and deployment stages, the status of the project in US, currently in developments in Idaho, and The Preliminary Front-End Engineering and Design study for the SMR project in Romania.
For the development of this study, Nuclearelectrica and NuScale will cooperate with the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) 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 applicable regulatory requirements. Also, potential suppliers of services and manufacturing and assembling in Romania will be identified during this FEED stage.
“Following an in-depth study which analysed multiple potential sites in Romania, the Doicesti site was selected, fulfilling all requirements in terms of safety, appropriate for NuScale’s design and the most advanced criteria and safety principles. Following the USD$14 million grant received from the US Government, we will start the technical site analysis. Through 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 two nuclear units at the highest standards, Nuclearelectrica is proud to contribute with 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 programs,” stated Cosmin Ghita, CEO of Nuclearelectrica.
Through Nuclearelectrica, Romania takes the first steps in implementing, during this decade, the first six-module 462 Mwe installed capacity NuScale power plant in Europe. It is estimated that this size NuScale power plant will generate approximately 200 permanent jobs, 1.500 jobs in construction, 2.300 jobs in production and will help Romania to avoid the generation of 4 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
“Like in the case of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, the first small modular reactors power plant will generate clean energy in the area where it will be built and strong economic growth for the local community by creating thousands of jobs, investments in infrastructure, growth of the chain of local suppliers, tax funds to the local budget and it will contribute to forming a new generation of specialists through investment in high-quality education”, added Cosmin Ghita.