Romania on track to become first country with SMR nuclear power plant

Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă said the small modular reactor project with US-based Fluor and NuScale would enable Romania to supply electricity to the region.

Romania is on track to become the first country to have the newest, safest and cleanest nuclear technology, the Government of Romania said. Prime Minister Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă met with the representatives of Fluor, a corporation based in the United States. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and has an annual turnover of nearly USD 15 billion, the announcement adds.

Fluor is the biggest shareholder of NuScale Power, a developer of small modular reactor (SMR) technology. The firm was the first to have the innovative nuclear energy facility design certified by The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).

Ciucă said the SMR project in Doiceşti with state-owned nuclear power plant operator Nuclearelectrica is in the national interest, adding that it benefits from the highest level of support from the US. Romania is determined to headline new green energy capacities and create highly qualified jobs.

“We focus on the entire production chain to implement this flagship project for Europe, which would ensure our energy security and even the role of the supplier in the region. I want us to keep the pace also for the reactors 3 and 4 in Cernavodă”, he stated.

Nuclearelectrica and NuScale are developing a project for the first SMR in Europe on the site of the former thermal power plant in Doicești

In November 2021, Nuclearelectrica and NuScale Power signed an agreement to advance the implementation of NuScale’s SMR technology in Romania by the end of the decade.

In May 2022, Nuclearelectrica, NuScale and E-Infra, the owner of the site, signed a memorandum of understanding for the development of the first SMR in Romania, on the location of the former thermal power plant in Doicești in Dâmbovița county. Fluor is envisaged to coordinate engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC).

Fluor was the first company to have the SMR facility design certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

In June 27, US President Joe Biden announced the allocation of USD 14 million grant for a front-end engineering and design (FEED) study. RoPower Nuclear (equally owned by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power and Gas) signed the contract with NuScale Power for the first phase of the engineering and design work.

In November 2021, Energonuclear, the project company, signed the first contract with Candu Energy on providing engineering services for the development and updating of documentation necessary for CANDU reactors for the new units in the Cernavodă nuclear power plant.

Fluor, Candu Energy and Sargent and Lundy have established a joint venture. Its main responsibilities are project management and conceptual engineering development.