Dâmbovița, Romania Hosts Europe’s First Small Modular Reactor Project: What You Need to Know

This podcast is part of the Embassy Row Project’s International Infrastructure Development and Trade Diplomacy Series.

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Dâmbovița, Romania Hosts Europe’s First Small Modular Reactor Project: What You Need to Know.

In the next seven years, around 2GW of electric power generation will be put out of service, raising two serious issues. The first is replacing this capacity, preferably with zero-carbon power sources, like renewable energy, hydroelectric, or nuclear energy. The second is the issue of Romanian energy security since the failure to replace this capacity and further expand it to meet the national energy needs would put Romania at a strategic and economic disadvantage. The Romanian government has taken this as an opportunity to reduce its dependence on fossil fuel energy and increase the share of renewable and other zero-carbon energy sources in the national energy supply to at least 79% by 2030 with around 38% from solar and wind power (NEI, 2021).

“Of the overall planned installed capacity of 25,053MW: hydroelectric will account for 7593MW, wind for 5255MW, solar for 5054MW, gas for 2958MW, coal for 1980MW, and nuclear for 1975MW.” explains James Scott, executive director of the Eastern European Institute for Trade and founder of the ENVIROTECH Pre-Accelerator. Scott continues, “This plan calls for an increase in nuclear capacity of 675MW, with the Dâmbovița Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Project representing a crucial first step in introducing modern nuclear power technology to Romania and it is the first SMR project in Europe.” On a broader, strategic level, this is the first collaboration on nuclear energy between the U.S. and an Eastern European country: "Based on the multi-decade partnership with the North American and European nuclear companies, we plan to advance our new nuclear energy projects, in light of more than 30 years of safe and efficient operation… The agreement between the governments of Romania and the US regarding cooperation on the nuclear energy projects, and the civil nuclear energy sector in Romania demonstrates the importance of the strategic partnership we have with the US." explains Radu Popa, Member of Romanian Parliament who represents the Dâmbovița region, in his address at the Democratizing Decarbonization Summit held by the Embassy Row Project at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on November 17, 2022.

“The Dâmbovița SMR project” explains Scott, “can provide a blueprint for successful trans-Atlantic collaboration in the energ