Romanian joint-venture RoPower Nuclear, owned in equal shares by state-controlled Nuclearelectrica (BVB: SNN) and private energy company Nova Power & Gas, marked a significant step toward the deployment of the first small modular reactor (SMR) power plant in Romania when hiring on December 28 the US company NuScale Power for engineering and design work.

Phase 1 of the Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) work awarded to NuScale will define the major site and specific inputs for a VOYGR-6 SMR power plant to be deployed at the Doicesti Power Station site in Romania, NuScale announced in a press release.

Following the allocation of a grant of USD 14 mln, announced by US President Biden in June 2022, the project company RoPower Nuclear will start the preliminary stage of the Front-End Engineering and Design study (FEED Study) for SMRs, Nuclearelectrica announced in September.

The Doicesti candidate site, previously hosting a thermal power plant, was selected following an in-depth study based on a USD 1.2 mln grant obtained by Nuclerelectrica from the USTDA to identify and evaluate the potential sites for the small modular reactors. The site was owned by Nova Power & Gas, which thus became Nuclearelectrica’s partner in the project designed to implement NuScale’s SMRs in Romania.

On November 4, 2021, at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), NuScale and Nuclearelectrica signed a Teaming Agreement to advance the implementation of the first small-scale modular reactor in Europe in the presence of Romanian Minster of Energy, Virgil Popescu.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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