Slovenia has become the fourth country after Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic in receiving US Project Phoenix funding to assess the potential for small modular reactors in replacing coal-fired generation plants, according to a statement of the Slovenian ministry for environment, climate and energy.

“Participation in the Phoenix Project gives Slovenia the possibility to fulfil its national energy and climate plan, which amongst other things counts on studying the possibility of using new nuclear technologies,” said Tina Sersen, state secretary for environment, climate and energy.

The US State Department has chosen Chicago-based energy consultancy Sargent & Lundy to carry out technical evaluations for the Slovenian government, the environment ministry added.