Eximbanka wants to be an active player in financing nuclear projects in the region. This was confirmed by the participation of its top officials at the Nuclear Financing Summit in New York, the largest event in the US focused on nuclear energy financing.
Eximbank’s CEO Rastislav Podhorec and Director of International Relations Matúš Šársky attended the Nuclear Financing Summit in New York, the largest event in the United States focused on financing nuclear projects. The conference, organized by the Nuclear Energy Institute, took place on 27. – 28 January.
Eximbank’s participation in the Summit fits naturally into the Bank’s long-standing initiative to support nuclear energy. The Slovak Republic has recently signed an Agreement between the Government of the Slovak Republic and the Government of the United States of America on the facilitation of cooperation on the Jaslovské Bohunice nuclear power plant project and on the civil nuclear programme in the Slovak Republic, and Eximbank has followed up on this framework by signing a Co-Financing Agreement with the Export Credit Bank of the United States of America (EXIM).
Eximbank profiles itself as a state-owned financial institution with the ambition to play an active role in supporting the development of nuclear energy, both for small and advanced modular reactors (SMR/AMR) and large nuclear power sources. “At the Summit we gained valuable insights into the different financing structures for nuclear projects – from the development phase to construction and decommissioning. Nuclear projects are capital intensive and involve a number of specific risks that need to be minimised,” said Rastislav Podhorec, CEO of Eximbanka.
Discussions at the event confirmed that the involvement of export credit agencies, commercial insurers and various forms of state assurance mechanisms are essential for projects of this scale. This is where Eximbank can play an important role. “We do not see the export potential of nuclear power through electricity alone. Slovakia has a strong ecosystem of institutions and companies that are active in the field of nuclear energy and have practical experience in all phases of the nuclear life cycle – from research, licensing and design, through the fuel cycle, construction and decommissioning,” added Matúš Šársky, Director of the International Relations Department.
During the summit, Eximbank representatives held a series of meetings with partners from financial institutions, insurance companies and venture capital funds that are active in the field of support for nuclear projects. The Bank also established contacts with major producers of nuclear technologies, especially in the segment of small modular reactors, but also large nuclear sources.
Due to its strategic location, strong background of companies with nuclear capability and developed power engineering, the Slovak Republic has the potential to become a regional production hub for nuclear components. At the same time, dozens of smaller and larger nuclear projects are being prepared for implementation in neighbouring countries in the coming years, which represents a significant export potential for Slovak companies.
Eximbanka wants to be ready to actively cooperate with partners when individual nuclear projects are relevant for Slovak exporters and reach the basic parameters for the provision of credit or guarantees.