The project company RoPower Nuclear (RPN), set up by Nuclearelectrica and its partner Nova Power and Gas for the development of the small modular reactors (SMR) based on the technology provided by the US company NuScale, issued a recommendation for cautious and gradual investment in the project.

The shareholder meeting at Nuclearelectrica, which is providing the bulk of the financing to the project, is supposed to be held on February 12-13.

The recommendation issued by RPN, following feasibility studies funded from the USD 200 million already spent on the project, includes the purchase of only one of the six reactors envisaged by the project, in a first stage. The other five would be contracted only after the first one proves functional. 

At most, all six could be contracted - with the condition stipulated clearly that NuScale should reimburse the money unless they are fully operational. 

The recommendations issued by RNP to Nuclearelectrica, in the view of an investment decision, include other pre-conditions that should be met before the delivery of the first reactor. Among them, a study about potential natural gas leakage on the site where the tractors are supposed to be installed.

Hotnews.ro wrote that the Doicești mini-nuclear reactor project has reached the following point, three years after its launch: over USD 200 million dollars, the absence of a final investment decision, and a real estate transaction finalised in favour of the private partner of the state-owned company Nuclearelectrica.

Nova Power and Gas owned the land in Doicești where the mini-reactors were to be built. It had purchased the land in 2021, a few months before the project was launched. Last summer, it sold the land to the project company that owns it together with Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company admitted, upon request from Hotnews.ro.

While Nuclarealectrica said that Nova Power's contribution to the project consisted of the project company's share capital - half of RON 20 million/EUR 4 million (meaning EUR 2 million) - Nova Power & Gas stated, in a press release, that it carried out "extensive development work" on the land, which was later sold to the project company.

iulian@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/Bogdan Ivan)