Virgil Popescu announces the major decisions for millions of Romanians, which will have a major impact in the coming years in our country, and this is because we are talking about what Romania managed to achieve in order to obtain a loan of 3 billion LEI from the USA for atomic energy.
Virgil Popescu talks below about the direction Romania is taking to ensure its energy future, and this is because financing is needed to build units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, and thanks to them Romania will be able to generate and more electricity for himself and his partners in the region.
"We are investing in the development of Romania's civil nuclear program! The strategic partnership between Romania and the USA in the field of energy is a strong one. Today in the presence of the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, the Special Representative of the President of the United States of America for Climate, John Kerry, and Geoffrey R. Pyatt, Assistant Secretary Bureau of Energy Resource, at the UN Conference on Climate Change - COP27, we had the honor to announce together with the president of US EXIM Bank Reta Jo Lewis the firm support for the granting of financing by US EXIM for the construction of units 3 and 4 at Cernavodă.
US EXIM has issued two letters of intent for the Cernavodă units 3 and 4 project: a letter of intent for a first loan of approximately $50 million that will support the development of Phase 2 of the units 3 and 4 project (Phase 2 will begin in the quarter of second from 2023). The second letter of intent will be a letter for a $3 billion loan that will cover the American contribution to the project as a whole.
These financing lines will be supported through the support agreement discussed with the Government of Romania. It is an extremely important step in the realization of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the United States of America regarding cooperation in relation to the nuclear-energy projects at Cernavodă and in the sector civil nuclear energy in Romania.
At the same time, through today's announcement, the US gives a strong political signal that it financially supports the development of Romania's civil nuclear program. I want to thank the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis, the Prime Minister of Romania Nicolae Ionel Ciucă, the colleagues from SNN and the American partners from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the State Department for their support.
Yes, Romania will become energy independent and, at the same time, we will ensure our energy security with the help of nuclear energy. Because decarbonization without nuclear energy cannot be done."
