Korea’s DS Private Equity joins Romania’s Small Modular Reactors programme

Korea’s DS Private Equity (DSPE), part of Korea’s DS group, will join as a financial investor the Romanian project company RoPower, formed at this moment by state-controlled Nuclearelectrica (BVB: SNN) and private company Nova Gas and Power (the owner of the location), which is developing the Small Modular Reactors (SMR) programme with the technology provided by US NuScale.

The financial investment committed by DSPE will help fund the development of the project, starting with Phase 2 of the FEED study, SNN said in July 2023 when it first announced the investment pledged by DSPE.

Phase 2 FEED includes the activities for detailed site characterization, the initiation of activities to obtain authorizations, licensing, and regulation, the precise schedule of the project, budget planning for project execution, and preparation for the purchase of long lead materials.

On March 28, Nuclearelectrica summoned its shareholders to get approval, among others, for a “tripartite Shareholders/Investors Agreement (SHA) to be concluded between SNN, Nova Power and Gas, and DSPE Beta Private Equity Fund for the development of the SMR Project, in Doicești Romania, in the form negotiated between SNN and the Project Partners.”

DS Private Equity will contribute EUR 75 million to the financing of the project company, controlled in equal shares by the two Romanian partners.

Romania, through the RoPower project company, founded in September 2022, is the first country in Europe to take the first steps to implement the NuScale VOYGRTM plant with 6 modules and an installed capacity of 462 MWe in this decade.

The EUR 75 million amount to be invested by DSPE, which is headquartered in Seoul, is part of the multinational public-private partners’ commitment from the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United Arab Emirates to provide up to USD 275 million for the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Project in Romania, Profit.ro reported.

NuScale Power and RoPower Nuclear SA (RoPower) announced the signing on December 28, 2022, of a contract covering the preliminary detailed engineering (FEED) work, marking an important step towards the deployment of a NuScale VOYG small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Romania.

(Photo source: Nuclearelectrica.ro)