Nuclearelectrica defends the Doicești mini-reactors project, after being criticized again by Bolojan. “Strategic projects must be cross-party”
The state company Nuclearelectrica claims that the Doicești nuclear mini-reactors project “is a robust one, coordinated by a team of specialists”, in a statement sent a day after it was criticized again by interim prime minister Ilie Bolojan.
HotNews wrote that the Doicești nuclear mini-reactors project reached the following point, a few years after its launch: more than 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.
On Wednesday, on B1 TV, Ilie Bolojan blamed the failure of the project on the management of Nuclearelectrica, claiming that hundreds of millions of euros were invested for a land, the preparation of some documents, so that, in the end, it was found that the investment required to put the project into practice is a huge one, and the price at which nuclear energy would have been produced is higher than the market price.
In its press release on Thursday, Nuclearelectrica claims that the project “is according to planning in terms of budget and stages, considered robust from the point of view of nuclear security, respected internationally, with interest from the investor community (investors in the data room), developed in mixed teams of Romania-USA specialists, with maximum attention given to the development of a landmark project for the nuclear industry, implicitly maximum cost efficiency”.
“Strategic energy projects are and must be cross-party, developed strictly in the interest of Romania, consumers and by reference to the area of economic-financial advantages derived from the development of these projects. Equally, large infrastructure projects need predictability, stability and united efforts in order to reach the final objective”, the state company also declared.
The government blames “a problem with the location”. The company denies it
In the press conference she held after Thursday's meeting at the Victoria Palace, the spokeswoman for the Government said, according to Agerpres, that “there is a problem with the location of this land on which the objective would be achieved and which is in the vicinity of a land that has a gas bag – debatable how small or how big, but it exists, and we are talking about nuclear reactors”.
Nuclearelectrica claims in its statement that “the preliminary studies carried out so far indicated that the geotechnical structure of the Doicești site is suitable for the development of the SMR project”, saying that “the studies regarding the selection of the Doicești site were carried out by renowned international companies and took into account international regulations in the field”.
The company stated that “the next step is that of detailed analyzes that will lead to the authorization of the site, in accordance with the work stages”.
“For the financing of the SMR Doicești Project, the project company Ropower Nuclear SA is considering, in addition to the financial contributions of its shareholders up to this point, attracting other sources of financing, as provided in the developed financial model, including: attracting new investors (interest already expressed), accessing credits from Export Agencies, accessing grants and other sources, as they will be identified/available”, Nuclearelectrica also stated.
