The US and allies UAE, South Korea and Japan invest in Romanian nuclear plant: The Export-Import Bank of the US (Exim) alongside the UAE, South Korea, and Japan are looking to extend early stage financial support totaling USD 275 mn to fund the RoPower Nuclear S.A facility in Romania, according to a White House statement. Exim issued a letter of intent to provide USD 99 mn for the small modular reactor (SMR) facility in a bid to accelerate the country’s transition to clean energy and enhance Europe’s energy security, the statement notes. The specific investments the UAE, Japan, and South Korea will be earmarking for the SMR plant were not provided, and it is unclear whether the funds are a loan or grant.

The details: The RoPower plant will entail 6 SMRs producing a total of 462 MW, according to Nuclearelectrica. The project — expected to come online sometime “this decade,” according to the company — will offset some 4 mn tons of CO2 equivalent annually once operational. The facility is jointly owned by Romania’s Nuclearelectrica SA and Nova Power & Gas SRL and will use US nuclear energy technologies firm NuScale Power’s VOYGR-6 tech and US-based engineering firm’s Fluor Corporation’s construction and engineering services. NuScale VOYGR-6 — the first SMR design certified by the US government — is a pressurized water reactor enabling the production of up to 77 MW of clean electricity per SMR.

Where’s the money going? The US funds will be channeled toward securing long lead materials for the plant, completion of the front-end and engineering design (FEED) phase of the project — which follows the completion of conceptual design studies to determine the feasibility of the project and a rough investment ticket for the venture, and provide provision of project experts to accelerate the plant’s launch.

More funding for RoPower in the pipeline: Exim and the US International Development Finance Corporation also issued a letter of interest for potential support to the tune of USD 1 bn and USD 3 bn for project deployment, the statement notes.

The UAE has been showing interest in Romania’s renewables sector: Back in March, state-owned Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) signed an agreement with Nuclearelectrica to collaborate on nuclear energy program development in the two countries, as well as in Central and Eastern Europe. Later that month, UAE renewables firm Masdar finalized a binding joint cooperation agreement with Romanian state-owned utilities firm Hidroelectrica to deploy offshore wind energy and floating solar energy projects totalling 2 GW in the country. The agreement was signed by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis during a high-level bilateral meeting that saw both sides discuss bilateral cooperation in the renewables sector.