Nuclearelectrica’s SMR project to get 275 million USD financing from the US

Nuclearelectrica (SNN) welcomes the announcement made by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, during the G7 Leaders’ Summit: the United States of America and multinational public-private partners from the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Arab Emirates, look to provide up to 275 million USD for the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Project in Romania, which includes a Letter of Interest from U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) for up to 99 million USD from the EXIM Engineering Multiplier Program.

In addition, the EXIM and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) issued Letters of Interest for potential financial support of up to three billion USD and one billion USD, respectively, for project deployment.

The funding of the SMR project in Romania is part of the concrete actions of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), which is mobilising 600 billion USD by 2027 for infrastructure projects globally.

“Nuclearelectrica welcomes the financing intention announced at the G7, an example of international cooperation for the large-scale deployment of energy projects impacting energy security and carbon footprint reduction.

We are proud to position Romania on the strategic development map of nuclear energy projects. It is a merit that Romania has earned through more than 26 years of safe operation at the highest standards of excellence of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, through more than 50 years of development of the nuclear industry in Romania, through the rigour of the CNCAN regulator, through the excellence in nuclear engineering and operation training of the Romanian education system, and through the leadership of the entire Nuclearelectrica team. We are proud that Romania will be the second country after the USA and the first in Europe to develop a NuScale VOYGR™ small modular reactor plant and that our project has won the trust and support of the most important financial institutions in the world, as well as of President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, the American Government, as well of the partners in Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United Arab Emirates,” said Cosmin Ghita, General Manager SN Nuclearelectrica SA.

“We are proud that Nova Power & Gas, an E-INFRA Group company, is part of such an important project as the one in Doicești-Romania, a project to replace an old coal-fired power plant with the most modern technology in the field of nuclear power plants – Small Modular Reactors (SMR). We are very pleased with the announcement made today by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, at the G7 Summit, regarding the SMR project in Doicești.  Together with our American and Romanian partners, NuScale and Nuclearelectrica, we are confident that we will deliver this project on schedule”, said Teofil Muresan, CEO E-INFRA.

The partners involved in financing the small modular reactor project in Romania are: the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (Japan), DS Private Equity Korea (Republic of Korea), EXIM Bank Romania, SN Nuclearelectrica SA, Nova Power & Gas SRL (Romania), Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC, United Arab Emirates), DFC and US EXIM (U.S). ENEC’s involvement in Romania’s SMR project, through in-kind contribution of nuclear experts, represents the first nuclear energy-focussed activity undertaken within U.S.-UAE Partnership for Accelerating Clean Energy (PACE) platform, launched in November 2022, to develop of 100 GW of clean energy by 2035. It is also a first collaborative measure following the MoU signed by SN Nuclearelectrica and ENEC in March 2023.