Poland's KGHM, Romania's Nuclearelectrica sign MoU for SMR cooperation

The two companies will exchange experience and know-how for 36 months in the technical, economic, legal, financial and organisational fields for the development of SMR projects to be developed by Romania and Poland, KGHM said in a press release on Tuesday.

"The introduction of innovative nuclear energy technology, based on small modules, is a watershed event for the Polish economy. This cooperation with an experienced partner from Romania provides substantial support to the venture," KGHM president of the management board Marcin Chludziński said.

Following the cooperation, Romania and Poland will strengthen their energy security with a secure, stable, affordable and clean source of energy while achieving their decarbonisation goals.

"The international interest in the development of small modular reactors is directly proportional to the interest of countries in ensuring energy security and achieving decarbonisation targets, given the innovative characteristics of this technology: modularity and flexibility, having a direct impact on lower costs and lower development period," Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita said.

The project that both Romania and Poland will develop in cooperation with US-based nuclear energy technology company NuScale Power will have six modules and will generate 193 permanent jobs in the plant, as well as 1,500 construction jobs and 2,300 production jobs. Also, the project will help Romania avoid the release of 4 million tonnes of CO2 per year into the atmosphere.

Nuclearelectrica's Cernavoda NPP, located in southeastern Romania, has two reactors of 700 megawatts each, covering around a fifth of the country's electricity needs.

In June, the White House announced that NuScale Power will provide $14 million (13.3 million euro) in support for the front-end engineering and design study for Romania’s deployment of a first-of-its-kind SMR plant. In May, Nuclearelectrica and NuScale announced that the first SMR in Romania will be deployed by 2030 at the former Doicesti power plant in Dambovita county. NuScale and Nuclearelectrica signed a teaming agreement to advance the deployment of the first SMR in Europe in November, during the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).

Blue-chip Nuclearelectrica's shares traded 0.64% lower at 46.5 lei ($9.59/ 9.63 euro) at 1016 CET on the Bucharest bourse on Wednesday.

Headquartered in Lubin, KGHM is a major copper and silver producer operates 9 open-pit and underground mines in Poland, Canada, the USA and Chile, employing around 34,000.

(1 euro = 4.8287 Romanian lei)