Serbia is considering the possibility of building a nuclear power plant, President Aleksandar Vu?i? said and added the country is discussing the idea with Russia’s state nuclear construction company Rosatom.

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vu?i? has already announced Serbia is willing to become a minority shareholder of any nuclear power plant in the region. One of the options is the planned nuclear power plant near the Hungarian town of Paks. However, this is the first time the option of constructing a plant in Serbia has come up.

There is an issue with financing the construction of a nuclear power plant.

In an interview with Soloviev Live on YouTube before his two-day visit to Russia to meet his counterpart Vladimir Putin, Vu?i? stressed Serbia did not think before about building its own nuclear power plant, but that it is now starting to seriously consider the option.

There is a problem with financing because a nuclear power plant costs more than EUR 10 billion, while Serbian laws don’t allow state debt to be above 60 percent of GDP, Vu?i? underlined, as quoted by local media.

Vu?i? added many issues are being discussed with Rosatom.

Serbia is in talks with Rosatom on the next steps.

Serbia needs additional consultations with Russian partners regarding future activities in this sector, Vu?i? added.

A few days ago, the Serbian president spoke in Belgrade with Director General of Rosatom Alexey Likhachev about the construction of a center for high technologies and innovations in Serbia.

Serbia and Rosatom are negotiating about a proposed center for high technologies and innovations

The governments of Serbia and Russia have already signed the agreement on cooperation in the construction of a center for high technologies for medical, scientific, agricultural, industrial, and social development.

The implementation of the project is planned after the signing of two agreements during the president’s visit to Russia.

Nuclear energy is experiencing a boom

Due to the energy crisis, caused by a spike in the prices of electricity and gas, the proponents of nuclear energy are gaining ground. Countries in the region, such as Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Turkey, but also those in the European Union, particularly France, already planned to build nuclear power plants. The recent market disturbance returned the topic to the spotlight.

Timmermans: EU has nothing against nuclear energy.

In mid-October, ten EU countries asked the European Commission to include nuclear power in the EU’s green taxonomy framework and recognize it as a low-carbon technology. However, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg, and Portugal oppose the idea.

European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans said a month ago that the EU has nothing against nuclear energy, but also warned it is expensive.

In addition to conventional nuclear power plants, small modular reactors are increasingly becoming popular, and the first such plant in Europe could be built in Romania.