ENERGO: Romanian project company hires US NuScale for engineering and design of first SMR nuclear plant

The Romanian joint-venture RoPower Nuclear, owned in equal shares by state-controlled Nuclearelectrica and private energy company Nova Power & Gas, marked a significant step toward the deployment of the first small modular reactor (SMR) power plant in Romania when on December 28 it hired the US company NuScale Power for engineering and design work.

Phase 1 of the front-end engineering and design (FEED) work awarded to NuScale will define the major site and specific inputs for a VOYGR-6 SMR power plant to be deployed at the Doicesti Power Station site in Romania, NuScale announced in a press release.

Following the allocation of a grant of $14mn, announced by US President Biden in June 2022, RoPower Nuclear will start the preliminary stage of the FEED study for SMRs, Nuclearelectrica announced in September.

The Doicesti candidate site, previously hosting a thermal power plant (TPP), was selected following an in-depth study based on a $1.2mn grant obtained by Nuclearelectrica from the USTDA to identify and evaluate the potential sites for the small modular reactors.