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Nuclearelectrica SA and KGHM Polska Miedz SA signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the development of small modular reactors
Nuclearelectrica, the state company which manages the unit in Cernavoda, announced that, together with KGHM Polska Miedz SA they signed in Karpacz, Poland an Memorandum of Understanding, uncommitted, for the development of projects of small modular reactors (SMR).
‘ Cooperation between SN Nuclearelectrica SA and KGHM Polska Miedz SA in the memorandum of understanding aims at the exchange of expertise and know-how with a duration of 36 months, in the technical, economic, judicial, financial and organizational domain, for the development of projects of small modular reactors which will be developed in Romania and Poland’ the company announces.
The memorandum of understanding between the two parties means a complex approach of all activities for the development of a SMR project, from the selection of the location to decommissioning, with a view to developing robust, safe and efficient SMR projects as far as costs are involved, in Romania and Poland.
‘Romania, with experience of over 25 years in exploitation of its nuclear unit safely, initiated the development of a NuScale SMR project, the only SMR technology certified at international level. We are happy to collaborate and share our experience and the lessons learnt and support KGHM in its first steps for the implementation of a safe, clean and innovative technology’ says Cosmin Ghita, general manager of SN Nuclearelectrica SA.
The project which both Romania and Poland will develop in cooperation with NuScale will have six modules, each with installed capacity of 77 MWe, 462 MWe, in total and it will generate 193 workplaces in the unit, 1,500 workplaces in construction, 2,300 workplaces in production and it will help Romania to avoid the release of 4 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
KGHM, together with NuScale intend to implement the SMR technology in Poland, during this decade. The first SMR in Poland will supply clean energy for the copper production units of the company. In this sense, KGHM lodged a request at the National Agency for Atomic Energy to evaluate the technology and prepare a location study.Similar to Romania, in Poland there will be set up a simulator of a command room SMR (Education Centre – Centre E2) for training formation for operators and specialists in the nuclear domain.
Nuclearelectrica is the national company producer of electricity, thermal energy and nuclear fuel which functions under the authority of the ministry of energy, the state having 82.49% of the shares and other shareholders, 17.50% after listing on the stock exchange in 2013.
The CNE Cernavoda branch exploits units 1 and 2 of the Nuclearelectrica unit in Cernavoda and the FCN Pitesti branch is the nuclear fuel factory.
Nuclearelectrica contributes with over 18% of nuclear energy to the total of energy production at national level.
KGHM Polska Miedz SA deals with the extraction and processing of valuable natural resources, the largest European copper ore deposits being located in the south-west of Poland, right in the heart of its catchment area.