Romania joined Italy and Belgium to form a consortium with US-based Westinghouse Electric in an attempt to put together past projects and develop a small modular lead-cooled fast neutron reactor (SMR-LFR).

The project, parallel to that developed by the US NuScale and joined by Romania as well, was visibly encouraged by the war in Ukraine and the accelerated decarbonisation in Europe.

The alliance aims to develop reactors to facilitate the deployment of sustainable nuclear energy on a commercial scale, according to Decode39.com. It intends to build the first demonstrative reactor based on a Westinghouse design in Mol, Belgium. The second one, in Pitești, Romania, will be built in parallel to study the technical and economic feasibility of future commercial SMRs.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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