Bucharest planning NuScale SMR plant at coal site and two new large-scale units at Cernavodă
An International Atomic Energy Agency mission has concluded that the selection of Doicesti in central Romania as the site for deployment of small modular reactors complied with the agency’s safety standards.
State-owned nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica said the IAEA site and external events design (Seed) follow-up mission assessed the site selection process against the agency’s safety standards.
Nuclearelectrica is now planning to move to the next phase of the site evaluation before applying for a site licence.
Nuclearelectrica said in 2021 it will partner with US company NuScale Power to build SMR reactors by 2029 as part of its efforts to boost low-emission power sources.
It has chosen a former coal plant site at Doicesti for the deployment of a 462-MW Voygr-6 SMR plant and expects to make a preliminary investment decision next year.
IAEA director-general Rafael Grossi visited Romania this week where he discussed progress of the SMR project and the refurbishment and long-term operation of the Cernavodă-1 nuclear plant.
He also met Romania’s prime minister Ion-Marcel Ciolacu to discuss the country’s nuclear sector and the agency’s Rays of Hope cancer initiative.
“The IAEA has long supported Romania’s nuclear activities, and our collaboration will deepen as the country seeks to advance Cernavodă 3 & 4 and a leading SMR project,” Grossi said on the social media platform X.
Cernavodă-1, a 650-MW Candu 6 unit, began commercial operation in 1996. A second unit at the site, the identical Cernavodă-2, began commercial operation in 2007.
Cernavodă is Romania’s only commercial nuclear station and supplies about 19% of the country’s electricity production.
Nuclearelectrica is planning to build two more units at the site, plans Grossi said the IAEA supported. The first new unit could be online by 2030.
