The Ministry of Energy requests that next month the final investment decision in the mini-reactors from Doicești be taken
Nuclearelectrica announced, on Friday evening, on BVB, that it received a request from the Ministry of Energy to complete the agenda of the February 12 shareholders' meeting, with an item related to the mini-reactors at Doicești. More precisely, the Ministry of Energy requires the adoption of the final investment decision in the project of innovative reactors, which would be developed by the Americans from NuScale. The Ministry's request was made before this issue was discussed in the company's Board of Directors, company sources told HotNews.
Regarding the Board of Directors, Nuclearelectrica also announced, on Friday evening, that one of the members, Ionel Bucur, requested the termination of his mandate starting on January 23, two months after his appointment.
The Ministry of Energy, the majority shareholder of Nuclearelectrica, claims that the final investment decision will be made based on the project's feasibility study.
In December, the Minister of Energy Bogdan Ivan said that the studies will be completed by February 28, 2026. The General Meeting of Shareholders where the final decision will be approved will take place on February 12, before this February 28 deadline.
The RoPower Nuclear project company is owned by Nuclearelectrica, a state-owned company, and Nova Power and Gas, a private company, each with 50%.
Nuclearelectrica spent over 200 million euros on studies
HotNews wrote that the Doicești nuclear mini-reactors project has reached the following point, three years after its launch: over 200 million dollars spent, the absence of a final investment decision and a completed real estate transaction in favor of the private partner of the state company Nuclearelectrica.
The project involves the construction of six nuclear reactors of 77 MW each in Doicești (Dâmbovița), on land purchased in 2021 by the private company Nova Power and Gas. He bought it for five million euros and sold it to the project company, of which the state is also a part, through Nuclearelectrica.
The state company transmitted, at the request of HotNews, that, until now, “the total cost of the project is approximately 210 million USD”.
How much of this amount was borne by Nuclearelectrica and how much by the private partner Nova Power and Gas with which it established the project company RoPower Nuclear SA? Nuclearelectrica replied that, until now, the contribution of the private partner consisted of the contribution to the share capital of the project company RoPower Nuclear. That is, almost 20 million lei, representing his half of the company's share capital.
The business with the land from Doicești
In the project company RoPower Nuclear SA, Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power and Gas each own 50%.
The Nova Power and Gas company was the owner of the land in Doicești where the mini-reactors would be built. He had bought this land in 2021, a few months before the project was launched. Last year, in the summer, it sold the land to the project company that owns it together with Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company admitted to HotNews.
The land was purchased in 2021 for around 5 million euros and sold this year for over 40 million euros, Nuclearelectrica sources told HotNews, under the protection of anonymity. The amount has not been officially confirmed by Nuclearelectrica, claiming that it is “confidential”.
How Nuclearelectrica spent over 200 million dollars. The business of mini-reactors
Nova Power & Gas claims to have carried out extensive greening works on the sold land
While Nuclarealectrica says that Nova Power's contribution to the project consisted of the share capital of the project company, Nova Power & Gas stated, through a press release, that it carried out “extensive development works” on the land in Doicești.
“Nova Power & Gas, part of the E-INFRA group, continues to support and invest, with confidence, in the SMR project from Doicești. The company representatives stated that their own investments in the development of the first SMR project in Europe will continue, at the pace and terms established with the project partners from Romania and the USA”, the press release states.
“The site of the Doicești site is completely transformed. Where it used to be one of the largest coal-fired power plants in the country, it is now a greened site, prepared for the development of the SMR project both on the surface and underground. The works carried out from NOVA investments for the benefit of the Doicești SMR Project in the period 2022 – 2025 included complex and large-scale works, aiming to meet the requirements of the environmental authority and not least the special requirements of an SMR type nuclear project”, said Septimiu Costea, CEO of Nova Power & Gas.
