The odyssey of nuclear energy in Romania. How the Americans sabotaged the development of the large Cernavoda nuclear power plant (III)

By Constantin Radut
Therefore, under pressure from the Donald Trump administration, the Chinese were removed for no reason from the Cernavoda Power Plant development project.
In December 2019, when Adrian Zuckerman (a Jew born in Romania) came as ambassador to Bucharest, no one made any move on the front.
In January 2020, a Romanian delegation led by the Minister of Energy, Virgil Popescu, is sent to the US. With many cheers, the signing of an MoU with the American side is announced.
Before that, Klaus Iohannis met with Donald Trump. Here is an excerpt from the joint statement: “Presidents Klaus Iohannis and Donald Trump signed a joint statement in Washington on August 20, 2019, which set out the agenda for bilateral relations in the future and gave some clues about the two states’ major concerns. The joint statement clearly outlines the US strategic interests in the cyber and energy relations with China and Russia, respectively. One of the points was directly related to the production of nuclear energy: “We strongly encourage the close collaboration of our industries to support Romania’s objectives in the field of civil nuclear energy.”
A few months later, Virgil Popescu declared triumphant: “The agreement we initialed today with United States Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette allows us to have American technology and expertise for both Reactors 3 and 4 and for the refurbishment of Unit 1, keeping CANDU 6 technology in a larger Euro-Atlantic consortium, representing NATO countries, and with financial support from the partners involved. In addition, it creates the framework for a broad cooperation between Romania and the US in the field of civilian nuclear. At the same time, we want Canadian and French partners in addition to our American partners. ”
How is the EnergoNuclear project unit doing? Nothing. It works on paper. The company’s website is almost empty. He  refers to the Chinese: “SN Nuclearelectrica SA and China General Nuclear Power Corporation have signed the Memorandum…” It also writes, in capital letters, on the Romatom – Roman Atomic Forum website.
Energonuclear is set aside because the Americans want to run everything.
Estimated at $ 8 billion by the US side, the project would be coordinated by the US company AECom, with the participation of companies from Romania, France and Canada, and the technology used would be CANDU 6.
Of course, it is an evaluation. You know how it is with evaluations…, now it is so, the value of a project can increase by more than 50 or 100% more. From 2020, the American side will be available to open a financing line of 7 billion dollars, a loan that the American state bank Exim Bank US can make available to Romania.
The Americans said they would be involved in building Cernavoda reactors 3 and 4 and reconditioning Unit 1. It is a project coordinated by one of the largest construction companies in the United States.
The future is American, therefore, for nuclear energy in Romania. And we should note, by comparison, the speed with which things moved.
In theory, on paper, because not a hair has moved since 2009.
Instead, Americans are now fooling us with the famous SMR – Small Modular Reactors.
A Romanian-American document was also signed. The American company NuScale Power and the Romanian National Nuclear Power Company have agreed to collaborate in order to place a NuScale SMR reactor plant on the site of a decommissioning coal-fired power plant, at the earliest in 2027-2028.
Of course with money. With a lot of money. The following news was released in early November 2021: The US Agency for Trade and Development (“US-TDA”) and SN Nuclearelectrica SA (“SNN”) announce the USTDA’s award of a $ 1,277,115 grant. US to finance the cost of technical assistance services related to the identification and conduct of a preliminary assessment of potential nuclear sites compatible with SMR technologies in Romania.
Nobody knows what SMR is and how it works. Small nuclear reactors, with a capacity of up to 100 MW, are a popular project, especially due to their size but also the fact that they are non-polluting and can be placed in places without special conditions.
The problem is that NuScale SMRs are not tested. They are barely “penciled”. Scientificamerican.com wrote that “The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved the design of a new kind of reactor, known as a small modular reactor (SMR). The design, from the Portland, Ore. – based company NuScale Power, is intended to speed construction, lower cost and improve safety over traditional nuclear reactors, which are typically many times larger. Supporters of SMRs have long touted them as a way to help revive the country’s nuclear industry and widen the spread of low-carbon electricity. But some experts have expressed concerns over the potential expense and remaining safety issues that the industry would have to address before any such reactors are actually built. ”
Most specialists point out that only in 2030 could SMR be put into operation in the US or in another guinea pig country, such as Romania…