The US’s official export credit agency, the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank), has approved a financial commitment of up to US$99 million (€89 million) to support the development of a small modular reactor project at the Doicesti coal-fired power plant site, reported in Romania said.

The funds are intended for RoPower, a joint venture between the state-owned company Nuclearelectrica, which operates the Cernavodă nuclear power plant, and the private Romanian energy company Nova Power & Gas.

According to Profit.ro, citing RoPower as a source, the Exim funds will go towards site development, regulatory approvals and detailed technical work.

According to Profit.ro, the commitment is part of an initial $275 million financing package announced last year, which includes significant contributions from other international institutions such as the US International Development Finance Corporation and private partners. The package is expected to include funding from countries such as Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

RoPower and US-based SMR developer NuScale are conducting a front-end engineering and design study (Feed) to analyze the preferred location, a former coal-fired power plant in Doicesti, north of Bucharest in southern Romania.

In July, US-based RoPower and engineering and construction company Fluor Corporation signed an agreement for the second phase of the feed study for an SMR system using NuScale’s Voygr SMR technology.

Fluor, NuScale’s majority investor, has invested more than $600 million in NuScale to support the commercial launch of the company’s Voygr technology.

The Romanian SMR project envisages the construction of a plant with a capacity of 462 MW based on NuScale technology with six modules with an installed capacity of 77 MW each. The plant would operate for 60 years.

In November 2023, RoPower confirmed its commitment to proposed projects involving SMR technology after NuScale announced the discontinuation of its Voygr pilot demonstration plant in the United States.

Earlier this summer, a South Korean investment fund reportedly received preliminary national security approval from the Romanian government to acquire a third of the capital of RoPower Nuclear SA.