Romania’s Ministry of Energy announces two new nuclear projects, selected in the first evaluation by the European Industrial Alliance for SMRs

Sunday afternoon, the Ministry of Energy declared that Romania has two projects approved in the first stage of evaluation conducted by the European Industrial Alliance for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The selected projects are the NuScale VOYGR™ SMR (RoPower Nuclear S.A., developed in Doicești by NuclearElectrica and Nova Power) and the EU-SMR-LFR (developed by RATEN in Mioveni, in collaboration with Ansaldo Nucleare, SCK-CEN, and ENEA), according to News.ro.

According to a press release issued on Sunday by the Ministry of Energy, “This achievement marks an important step in consolidating Romania’s position as a regional leader in the field of nuclear energy.”

“These selected projects are part of a new pan-European initiative aimed at accelerating the development and implementation of SMR technologies in Europe by the early 2030s, including supply chains for future small modular reactors. They have been included in the first batch of Project Working Groups (PWGs), following a rigorous evaluation conducted by the Alliance’s Steering Council and its secretariat,” the cited document states.

“Out of 9 projects selected at the European level, from a total of 22 applications, 2 projects are from Romania. This is a performance we should be proud of. I want to believe that this success will convince, or at least make second thoughts, those who tell us that this technology has no future and that Romania should no longer undertake bold energy projects.”

The development of nuclear energy, both at the national and European levels, is inseparably linked to reducing dependence on the Russian Federation, achieving the EU’s competitiveness objectives, and our common desire to have clean and affordable energy.

“In Romania, we aim to reach a capacity of over 3500 MW in nuclear power plants in the coming years, through projects that are planned or underway – either in Cernavodă, in Doicești (through the NuScale SMR technology), or in Mioveni (the ALFRED demonstrator),” declared the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja.