The representatives of the energy industry, members of two of the most well-known professional associations in the sector, the Association of Electric Energy Producers – HENRO and the Romanian Atomic Forum – ROMATOM appreciate the debates that took place during the G7 Summit, held between 19-21 May 2023, in Japan and the fact that President Joe Biden reiterated the US intention to support the financing of the project for the implementation and commissioning of small modular reactors – SMR in Romania, as part of the commitments of the G7 leaders to implement the Partnership for Infrastructure and Global Investment (PGII). One of the goals of this Partnership is to support and implement clean energies, through integrated solutions on a global scale and part of this effort is small modular reactors that offer more safety and security, flexibility, scalability and a lower investment effort compared to large nuclear units .
The development of the SMR project in Romania through the technology developed by NuScale Power and the engineering services of Fluor Corporation, the letter of interest issued by EXIM Bank USA for the Romanian company involved for financial support of up to 99 million USD for the completion of the initial studies, along with the expressed interest by public and private partners from Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Arab Emirates – totals approximately USD 275 million in the initial phase of support. To these, we add the letters of interest of about 1 billion. USD from the International Development Finance Corporation and up to USD 3 billion from EXIM Bank USA for the implementation of the SMR project in Romania. Once completed, small modular reactors will contribute to the adoption of new innovative technologies in the energy sector, accelerate the transition to clean energy, create thousands of jobs and contribute to European energy security while achieving the highest safety and security standards in the field of nuclear and non-proliferation of the nuclear threat.
“We must not forget that the nuclear program in Romania was started more than 50 years ago, during which time we accumulated experience, we trained generations of nuclearists, from engineers, physicists, operators and other specialists, and the way of operation of units 1 and 2 from Cernavodă places us in the elite of the world nuclear industry.
“The growing share of renewable energy sources implies the need for flexibility in the electricity generation sector, and the projects announced or being carried out by the members of HENRO and ROMATOM demonstrate that Romania is aligning itself with the new paradigm in the field of electricity generation, in order to decarbonize the energy sector and the Romanian industry,” said the representatives of HENRO.
