Romania's US-backed nuclear power projects should be kept out of election row, minister says

BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian nuclear power projects backed by U.S. companies should not be affected by recent criticism from members of President Donald Trump's administration over a cancelled election, Romania's energy minister said.

Romania's top court voided the country's presidential election in December based on suspicions of Russian interference in favour of the surprise far-right NATO critic frontrunner, denied by Moscow.

U.S. Vice President JD Vance and tech billionaire Elon Musk singled out Romania during a wider criticism of Europe which points to potential policy shifts.

Romanian state-owned nuclear power producer Nuclearelectrica signed a 3.2 billion euro main engineering contract to build two 700 MW nuclear reactors by 2032 with a consortium of four firms including U.S. Fluor Corporation and Sargent & Lundy.

Nuclearelectrica also plans to build by 2029 a small modular reactor plant (SMR) using technology from U.S. company NuScale Power, potentially for the first time in Europe. U.S. EXIM Bank and International Development Finance Corporation have committed financing for the project.

Asked whether U.S. criticism of Romania could impact the ongoing projects, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja said: "Not as far as we are concerned."

"These projects involve large American companies and we believe that regardless of the political context it is in the interest of the United States for these projects to continue," he told Reuters.

Burduja said Romania would hold a second tender for 3.5 GW of solar and wind energy projects funded through a contract for difference (CFD) support scheme backed by European Union funds in the first half of this year.

The CfD scheme, which guarantees the price of the electricity generated for 15 years, is supported by 3 billion euros from the Modernisation Fund, a programme under the European Green Deal which supports 10 lower-income EU member states in upgrading their energy systems.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)