Romania plans to borrow more than $3 billion from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) to build two new reactors at the country’s sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda.
EXIM issued two letters of interest for US exports being used at the nuclear power project in Romania. One of the letters concerns a first loan of about $50 million to support the second phase of the project, starting in the second quarter of 2023, while the second letter refers to a $3 billion loan that will cover the US contribution to the project as a whole, Romania’s Energy Minister Virgil Popescu said.
The governments of Romania and the US have an agreement on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.
One of the major projects is the construction of two new reactors at Cernavoda, which already operates two 700-MW reactors that cover about a fifth of the country’s electricity needs. The projects stalled for years, but the energy crisis in the recent period seems to have pushed the Romanian authorities to fasten the development.
According to Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the EXIM Bank loans will amount to about a third of the project’s financing needs.
(Bogdan Neagu | EURACTIV.ro)
Source: euractiv.com
