Nuclearelectrica's proposal to review SMR options rejected by ministry

In a statement after the proposal was voted against by shareholders, including the majority shareholder, the Ministry of Energy, Nuclearelectrica (SNN) said: "The company's intention was for our shareholders to approve the conduct of a technology benchmarking study and multiple scenarios, based on recent technological developments, to serve as the foundation for an informed decision-making process leading to the most advantageous solution for Romania, given that a number of conditions associated with the Final Investment Decision for the Doicești Project could not be met for reasons beyond the control of both Nuclearelectrica and the project company RoPower Nuclear SA."

As the vote was against the proposal, Nuclearelectrica says it "will continue, in accordance with the shareholders' approval from February 2026, their efforts to reach a commercial consensus with NuScale regarding the terms for the acquisition of the SMR modules and the Framework Agreement, in parallel with discussions with representatives of the Romanian government regarding the feasibility of fulfilling the other conditions, some of which were requested by the majority shareholder, the Ministry of Energy, itself".

A Final Investment Decision was taken by Nuclearelectrica shareholders in February for the small modular reactor (SMR) project, which is aiming for 462 MWe installed capacity, using NuScale technology with eventually six modules at the former coal plant site at Doicești - about 90 kilometres northwest of Bucharest - each with an installed capacity of 77 MWe.

The company said in its statement - issued on the day of the meeting on 15 July - that discussions were continuing with the Ministry of Energy regarding conditions relating to the Final Investment Decision and financial support. It also stressed that a first-of-a-kind project "by its very nature, entails a higher degree of technical, operational, and financial complexity than in the case of replicated projects".

In a press statement the following day, the Energy Secretary Cristian Bușoi said: "The proposal submitted for approval did not concern an actual strategy nor the concrete update of the Small Modular Reactors Project Implementation Strategy, but exclusively the initiation of steps to assess the opportunity for a possible update. Under these circumstances, in the absence of sufficient data, analysis and substantiation, we considered that the request addressed to the … [shareholders meeting] is not justified and not addressed appropriately. The documentation, substantiation and initiation of such an approach falls under the responsibility of the Company's executive management, which is obliged to take all necessary steps to assess the situation and protect the interests of the Company and its shareholders.

“As Secretary of State responsible for international relations and the implementation of nuclear projects, I am in permanent dialogue with the SNN (Nuclearelectrica) leadership, but also with American partners, through bimonthly videoconference working meetings with the responsible team from the US Department of Energy, to assess the most appropriate decision regarding the continuation of the SMR project, including by examining the opportunity to use other American SMR technologies."

In a statement to World Nuclear News, NuScale said: "NuScale continues to work with SNN and RoPower to satisfy the conditions that were attached to the shareholders' approval of the Financial Investment Decision."

The background

The partnership between the USA and Romania on SMRs began in March 2019 with a memorandum of understanding between state-owned nuclear power corporation Nuclearelectrica and NuScale to study potential developments. In 2021, NuScale and Nuclearelectrica signed a teaming agreement to deploy a NuScale VOYGR-6 power plant in Romania by the end of the decade. In June 2022, the two companies signed a memorandum of understanding to begin conducting engineering studies, technical reviews, and licensing and permitting activities for the project.

NuScale Power and RoPower Nuclear - owned jointly by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power & Gas - completed Phase 1 of a Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) study in late 2023, which analysed the preferred site of the first VOYGR-6 SMR power plant. The FEED 2 study has also been completed - this saw Fluor Corporation provide RoPower Nuclear with the design and engineering services required for the implementation of the project, including an updated cost estimate and schedule as well as the safety and security analyses needed for the final investment decision.

The US Export-Import (Exim) Bank approved in 2024 a USD98 million loan for pre-project services, and the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Exim also issued Letters of Interest for potential support of up to USD1 billion and USD3 billion, respectively, for project deployment.