The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved a $98-million loan for the second phase of an early engineering and design study by Fluor Corp. for a six-module, 462-MW small modular nuclear reactor in Romania—the country's first—at the site of a former coal power plant in Doicești near Bucharest that will use technology of U.S.-based developer NuScale Power Corp. Each module would be 77 MW.

Fluor, a NuScale majority investor, was awarded the phase two FEED contract in July by Romanian state-owned developer RoPower, in a joint announcement by the U.S. Energy Dept. and Romania's Energy Ministry. The contract award was not disclosed, but its completion will enable the project to reach final investment decision and start construction, with commercial deployment aimed for 2029.

Ex-Im Bank said "public and private partners" from Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates have also "expressed their interest" in early-stage financial support, potentially totaling $275 million.

“When completed, this facility will be the first of its kind in Europe," said Pierre Bechelany, president of Fluor’s LNG & Power business. The firm said it has set up an office in Bucharest to carry out work. The U.S. and Romania began working toward the project in early 2019, 

Other companies, including South Korea-based Samsung C&T Corp. and U.S.-based Sargent & Lundy are working on other SMR projects using NuScale technology in Romania.

The Ministry of Energy has estimated that the Doicești project will need a budget of $5.3 billion, with Ex-Im Bank and the U.S. International Development Finance Corp. promising funding of up to $4 billion to build it. The ministry said it will help Romania reduce carbon emissions by about 4 million tonnes annually.

NuScale is the only company that has a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission design approval and a license to build a small nuclear reactor in the U.S. But last year it cancelled its only domestic test project when too many utility member customers opted out due to rising costs.