President Klaus Iohannis said on Saturday that Romania sees nuclear energy as a sustainable energy source and that our country aims to become a regional leader in its operation and implementation, a workforce training center and a supply chain center for nuclear energy-related supply chains, Agepres reports.

“The negative consequences of climate change cannot be denied. We must accelerate our action to mitigate climate change and, in particular, rapidly decarbonize our energy systems. That’s why I’m delighted to be attending this event alongside government and industry leaders who are committed to achieving the goal of net zero global emissions by 2050, including through the use of nuclear power.

As for Romania, our climate change and energy strategies envisage an energy balance based on renewable sources and nuclear energy for Romania with zero net emissions,” said the head of state in Dubai at the presentation of the Declaration on the tripling of nuclear energy capacity worldwide.

He emphasized that nuclear power facilities have been operating in Romania for almost three decades with high standards of productivity and safety, noting that this fact is a consistent national experience in this field.

“At the same time, we must do more – at the national and global levels,” President Iohannis added.

The head of state specified that analyzes by the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency show that on a global scale, the installed capacity of nuclear power must triple by 2050, so that by then the world will reach zero net global emissions.

“Looks like we’re about to build the first civilian small modular reactor”

“In this context, Romania considers nuclear energy as a stable source of energy that contributes to energy security and decarbonization. In the future, we are going to complete the construction of two new CANDU units at the Cernavoda power plant, as well as build and implement small modular SMR reactors in Romania. (…)

Regarding that, this is a new technology that we are working on with our friends in the United States, and it looks like we will be building the first civilian small modular reactor based on the technology that we talked about. In developing our national nuclear energy program, we are guided by a basic set of principles and priorities.

We are committed to public and environmental safety and non-proliferation. In addition, Romania also aims to become a regional leader in nuclear energy and implementation, a workforce training center and a hub for nuclear energy supply chains,” he added.

President Iohannis said that climate change is a global challenge and requires action at this level.

“Only with concerted actions and increased ambition will we be able to deal with them effectively,” the Head of State said.

President Klaus Iohannis is participating in the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, from Saturday to Monday.

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