Belgium, together with other countries, will focus on faster development of small nuclear power stations | Domestic

Prime Minister De Croo received Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and ambassadors from the US and Italy at his official residence this morning. An agreement was signed there to accelerate the development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) in an international consortium.

The De Croo government has previously shown ambition to focus on this new type of nuclear reactors, which should be smaller, more flexible, cheaper and also safer. The capacity can vary from 10 to 300 megawatts. This is comparable to a few wind turbines, but up to a third of the youngest nuclear reactors that our country currently has.

After a failed nuclear phase-out, Vivaldi has already decided to release 100 million euros for its development. The other three international partners would also probably invest 75 million.

For our country, the SCK CEN nuclear study center in Mol will be part of the new consortium. For Romania, this is the state-owned nuclear technology company Raten, in addition to the American Westinghouse, which has also built nuclear power plants in our country. Italian representation comes from both the new technology agency Enea and nuclear organization Ansaldo Nucleare.

SCK CEN hopes to be able to realize a small demonstration reactor in Mol in about fifteen years.