President Klaus Iohannis took part on Wednesday in Egypt in the case of the transfer of letters of intent for loans of more than 3 billion dollars granted by the United States for the implementation of units 3 and 4 at Cernavod, reports Cotroceniul.

These two letters of intent are for an initial loan of approximately US$50 million that will support the development of the second phase, preliminary work, of the Unit Nos. 3 and 4 project, and a follow-on loan of US$3 billion that will support Phase Three , the actual construction of the project.

“We need energy security, but energy security is only possible through the availability of energy, and we in Romania have ambitions, and this is important for Romanians, for the business environment and for the region, because this is a new approach that guarantees us that we we have enough energy, we will show that we are energy independent and we will show how to achieve a green transition, because innovation and nuclear energy will allow us to replace fossil fuels,” said the head of state, quoted by Agerpres.

John Kerry: Romania will double Cernavoda’s production capacity

The special representative of the President of the United States of America on climate issues, John Kerry, was also present at the ceremony.

“We cannot achieve zero climate neutrality by 2050 unless nuclear power is part of the energy mix,” the US official said.

He said the project in Romania would double the energy production capacity from Cernavode and help reduce emissions.

The documents were handed over by the president of Exim Bank USA, Reta Joe Lewis, to the Minister of Energy of Romania, Virgil Popescu.

“This is a big step towards Romania’s energy independence, and I am sure that the new steps we will take together will accelerate the speed and we will complete our nuclear programs. We are obliged to fulfill our reactor program,” said the minister. Popescu.

The contract was initialed two years ago

Prime Minister Nicolae Chuke also announced before Wednesday’s cabinet meeting that there are two letters of intent, one for a $3 billion loan and one for $50 million in financing.

• “Today, US Eximbank presented letters of intent to finance $50 million of Phase 2 construction of the 3rd and 4th reactors of the Chernavod NPP, a phase that will begin next year and be completed in 2025. .
• The 2nd letter of intent provides for a loan of 3 billion dollars, which represents the financing of the 3rd stage, which will start in 2025 and end in 2030, the stage which represents the physical implementation of 2 reactors,” the Prime Minister noted This was stated by Minister Chuke on Wednesday.

​In October 2020, Romania and the United States initialed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda NPP, the reconstruction of Unit 1, and cooperation at various levels in the civil nuclear field in Romania.

In addition to the agreement, a memorandum of understanding was also signed with EXIM US (Export-Import Bank of the United States) to finance 7 billion dollars for the development of projects in the nuclear industry, as well as other sectors, the Minister of Economy announced at the time in Washington, Virgil Popescu.

• Yohannis went to Sharm El-Sheikh, Arab Republic of Egypt, for the climate summit (Sharm El-Sheikh Climate Implementation Summit), which was held on Monday and Tuesday in the context of the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( COP27).