The United States has launched in Bucharest its first small modular reactor control room simulator abroad to train the next generation of civil nuclear workers and lay the groundwork for future nuclear deployments in Europe, the US State Department said on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2023) The United States has launched in Bucharest its first small modular reactor control room simulator abroad to train the next generation of civil nuclear workers and lay the groundwork for future nuclear deployments in Europe, the US State Department said on Friday.
"Today, US Ambassador to Romania Kathleen Kavalec and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Ann Ganzer joined Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, Minister of Energy Virgil Popescu, Politechnica University Rector Mihnea Costoiu and industry executives to officially launch the first NuScale Energy Exploration (E2) Center outside the United States at University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania," the State Department said in a press release.
The move will support establishing Romania as a regional education and training hub for the next stage of US civil nuclear deployments across that country and throughout Europe, the release said.
In November 2021, the State Department announced a multi-billion Dollar deal with Romania to begin replacing seven of the country's coal power plants with small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
SMRs are nuclear fission reactors that are significantly smaller than traditional nuclear reactors and can be built at one location and then transferred to another. In 2018, the International Atomic Energy Agency said the SMRs are the most promising emerging nuclear power technologies.
