Doicești Nuclear Project: Financing & Site Deal Contested — NRG-IA

The Prime Minister's Control Body report and the responses published by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power & Gas present three deeply contrasting perspectives on the Doicești nuclear project. The administrative audit claims an imbalance between the financing, provided primarily by the state-controlled company, and the equal rights of the two shareholders. Nuclearelectrica maintains it acted legally and prudently, while the private partner asserts that the site transaction caused no losses and can be fully reversed. None of these positions, on their own, represent a definitive verdict. The Control Body's report is an administrative act, not a judicial ruling. The companies' defenses express the positions of the involved parties and must be verified against transaction documents, corporate approvals, valuations, and the outcome of the specially commissioned audit on reinvoiced costs. A 462-Megawatt Project Managed Through an Equal Joint Venture The project entails building a small modular reactor (SMR) plant in Doicești, developed by the US company NuScale, with a planned total capacity of 462 megawatts. The project company, RoPower Nuclear, is owned in equal shares by Nuclearelectrica and Nova Power & Gas. The joint venture and the initial strategy were approved in September 2022. However, equal ownership did not translate into equal development financing. While both shareholders contributed equally to the share capital, Nuclearelectrica became RoPower Nuclear's primary creditor. The loan ceiling was raised to $243 million, and by the end of the first quarter of 2026, the project company had drawn down approximately $228.6 million of this financing. The Control Body identifies a proportionality issue here: Nuclearelectrica bears the dominant financial exposure, while decision-making power remains split equally between the two shareholders. The report suggests that the arguments used to select the private partner—land ownership and the E-INFRA group's experience in energy infrastructure—do not alone justify a 50% stake. Nuclearelectrica counters that the partnership was not built solely around a real estate transaction. Nova committed to keeping the site available for the project, promising not to sell it, encumber it, or develop other investments on the land without the project company's consent. The equal structure was intended to allow a rapid start to activities, with shareholdings expected to adjust as other investors were brought on board. The company also points out that the agreement reserves its role as the future operator of the plant for a duration that could reach 60 years. In the context of the project's realization, this right would represent a long-term source of activity and revenue for Nuclearelectrica. However, this benefit remains contingent on the plant actually being built and commissioned. The Transaction at the Heart of the Dispute The history of the site begins before the joint venture. In 2019, the entire platform of the former Doicești coal-fired power plant was purchased from Termoelectrica for approximately €5.39 million, including VAT. In December 2021, Nova Power & Gas acquired approximately 170.6 hectares for an agreed price of €7.3 million, but actually paid around €3.8 million after the seller failed to carry out all agreed demolitions. The report attributes an initial cost of nearly €2.8 million to the approximately 52 hectares designated for the nuclear project. In October 2024, an independent appraiser estimated the market value of the site at €24.45 million. The valuation included works deemed to add value to the property, estimated at approximately €16.7 million, and excluded costs of around €19.1 million, which were judged not to increase the market value of the assets. On June 5, 2025, RoPower Nuclear and Nova signed two separate documents. The first was the site sale contract, with a price of €24.34 million. The second was an agreement for the reinvoicing of certain works and expenses amounting to €19.49 million excluding VAT, or €22.05 million including VAT. The cumulative contractual value presented by the Control Body thus reaches approximately €46.39 million. The sale price was paid using the financing granted to the project company by Nuclearelectrica. However, the reinvoicing component had not been paid by the time the audit was completed and remains under review. This separation is essential: RoPower did not pay €46.39 million; rather, it paid the price of the site and remained party to a separate agreement regarding the contested costs. The 16-Fold Price Comparison Requires Context The Control Body compares the approximately €2.8 million attributed in 2021 to the area designated for the nuclear project with the €46.39 million value resulting from the sale and reinvoicing. Arithmetically, the contractual sum is more than 16 times higher. However, this comparison does not look at assets proven to be in the same condition. The 2021 value is an allocation from the…