Serbia and EDF: formalization of cooperation; the establishment of the NEPIO body, but the problem of transparency remains.

On Friday, the Minister of Mining and Energy, Dubravka Đedović Handanović, spoke with a high-level delegation of the French EDF, led by Vice Presidents Eric Majar and Vakis Ramani, about further steps in the development of the Serbian nuclear program

According to the ministry’s statement, it is expected that next month the Ministry and EDF will officially formalize the continuation of cooperation after the successful completion of the preliminary study, and by the end of February the National Nuclear Program Implementation Body (NEPIO) will be formed, in accordance with IAEA standards, which will serve as the central coordinator of the project. In addition to all that, the announcement states that Serbia has requested grants from the French Development Agency (AfD) to finance additional professional studies necessary for the first phase of the program.

The minister particularly emphasized the importance of domestic experts and the academic community, stressing that the return of Serbian scientists from abroad and the inclusion of retired experts are planned. EDF has confirmed its readiness to support Serbia through the exchange of knowledge and the strengthening of personnel capacities, identifying 19 key steps that Serbia needs to fulfill according to the standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The main reasons for the introduction of nuclear energy are long-term energy stability, the process of decarbonization, but also the growing needs of the economy, data centers and the development of artificial intelligence.

Editorial comment

However, we add our own comment: a preliminary study was completed last summer, but to this day, six months later, it is not available to the public. In response to our requests for information of public importance a few weeks ago, we received an answer only for the third time that the ministry is in the “harmonization procedure” after which it will be delivered to EDF “for approval” and only after that it will finally be available to the public.