With the invitation from U.S. Department of State and Ministry of Economy of Slovak Republic, I participated at Project Phoenix Workshop and Launch Event that took place in Bratislava, November 8-9, 2023. In short, project Phoenix focus is conversion of Coal (power plant sites) to Small Modular Reactors sites by utilizing existing infrastructure. Phoenix will support three selected EU countries in carrying out feasibility studies for possible deployment of SMRs in late 2030s.
The event was well attended with high level representatives of governments, nuclear energy project developers and operators, SMR technology developers, utilities, academia, lobbyists, and NGOs.
Obviously, nuclear energy future comes naturally to states that already operate conventional nuclear plants. Experience with project design, construction, operation, and decommissioning is there and countries like Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria can easily adopt nuclear future. Other developed countries like Poland establish partnerships to move ahead with this scenario. At the same time Sweden, Finland, and other countries are also looking to nuclear as energy of the future.
And what about developing countries in the Western Balkans? Can we dare to speculate about SMRs in our region?
Under current circumstances, it is a difficult policy to sell but we shouldn’t be left out from the debate, and we should closely follow the results of the three Phoenix sponsored feasibility studies.
I believe there should be a regional long term energy strategy, giving answers to what happens after we all have exhausted options i.e. successfully implemented conventional generation options like new RES (wind, solar), BESS, hydro pumped-storage, and maybe hydrogen facilities etc.
This strategy should answer one question: How is Western Balkans meeting its demand beyond 2050 and if we should also consider SMRs in our long-term vision. We can’t do this alone.