Energy Minister Sebastián Burduia sees a bright side in Romania moving forward with a project that failed in the US. He says that in this way Romania can become the first country in the world with small size reactors (SMR) and we can transfer some of the technology developed there. For those who are intimidated by this topic, he recommends the film “Nuclear” by Oliver Stone.

What Burduzh says:

• We have the ambition to be the first in the world to have small modular reactors. Indeed, this NuScale technology, as you’ve probably read in the news, had a – let’s call it – hesitation in its progress. It’s a commercial fluke, the project in the United States is co-financed by dozens of utility companies, but the technology itself remains the only one in the world certified by the NRC, the world’s strictest regulator.
• And there is every chance that we will even benefit from the fact that the project in Idaho will not be carried out. Because we can negotiate with the United States Department of Energy to take some of the technology and elements developed there and even accelerate it to 2029 – why not? – the first country in the world that had a small reactor.
• There is also a fear in society, why should we be the first, but I think we should be proud of it and explain to Romanians that this technology is safe and as long as it receives all the certificates from the NRC, from CNCAN, from all those involved, we should not be afraid.
• By the way, I recommend a movie that is coming to the big screen, the movie “Nuclear” by Oliver Stone, a movie that explains in a way that everyone can understand what the advantages of nuclear technology mean and why humanity was scared when it could have adopted this technology .

HotNews.ro wrote a lot about this topic and about the reasons for the failure of the American project.

After announcing last week that the US project was no longer under construction, the Department of Energy said it maintained its confidence in SMR technology.

“Romania maintains its confidence in SMR technologies, which complement large-scale reactor technologies in terms of modularity and flexibility. We firmly believe that the successful implementation of SMR technologies in Romania by the next decade is essential for energy security and for achieving our climate goals by gradually replacing coal-fired power plants with SMRs,” the Ministry of Energy said in a statement.

On the day that NuScale ceased operations in the US, Johannis announced another project on small reactors, but with European companies.

The President announced that he had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding in Belgium for the Molten Lead Cooled Nuclear Fast Reactor (LFR) technology.

It will be added to the project on modular mini-reactors (SMR), which will be built in Deutschland – the innovative technology of the Americans from NuScale. It is worth noting that Nuclearelectrica is absent in the new project, but another Romanian organization is present.