{"id":3459,"date":"2026-07-30T07:56:24","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:56:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/?p=3459"},"modified":"2026-07-30T07:56:24","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:56:24","slug":"serbia-enters-phase-1-of-nuclear-program-partnership-agreement-signed-with-edf-and-afd-for-human-resource-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/serbia-enters-phase-1-of-nuclear-program-partnership-agreement-signed-with-edf-and-afd-for-human-resource-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia Enters Phase 1 of Nuclear Program: Partnership Agreement Signed with EDF and AFD for Human Resource Development"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka \u0110edovi\u0107 Handanovi\u0107 signed a partnership agreement between the Republic of Serbia, \u00c9lectricit\u00e9 de France (EDF), and the French Development Agency (AFD). The agreement provides technical and financial support to Serbia in building professional, human resource, and organizational capacities, as well as preparing key studies to launch the national nuclear program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Foto:
Foto: Ministarstvo Rudarstva i Energetike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Financial support comes through a grant from the French Development Agency in the amount of 500,000 euros (through the FEXTE fund), which represents the first involvement of this institution in Serbia’s nuclear sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus on Phase 1: human resource development and the NEPIO body<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After EDF prepared the Preliminary Technical Study during the past year, the new phase of cooperation is focused on setting the institutional foundations and implementing the recommendations of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, there is the human resource development strategy: evaluated as the most important part of the project, this component aims to create a base of domestic engineers and technical personnel who will manage nuclear capacities in the future. Also, there is the strengthening of the NEPIO body: resources and expertise will be directed to the National Body for the Implementation of the Nuclear Energy Development Program (NEPIO), through improving safety culture, design skills, and the ability to make informed decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Study dynamics<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cooperation with EDF is planned for the preparation of three additional studies within Phase 1, while the remaining 14 studies will be the subject of negotiations with other international companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Ministry’s announcements, all studies should be completed by mid-2027, so that the state can make a final decision on the choice of technology, while the operational work of the first power plant is not expected before 2040.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commentary. On the test of independence: human infrastructure <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement of the start of Phase 1 and the direction of resources toward education and NEPIO represents a step that Nuklearna Perspektiva welcomes \u2013 building a nuclear program must start with people and the regulatory framework, not with the selection and purchase of the reactor itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this step opens up key questions of political economy and regulatory integrity in Serbia that we will have to deal with in the future, and in the first place, there is the risk of early technological bias: although the Ministry states that it will consider the remaining 14 studies with various global actors, the fact that EDF is leading the technical and personnel studies in Phase 1 creates a structural advantage for French technology (not to beat around the bush too much: most likely EPR or EPR2 reactors).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First and foremost, Serbia must take care that the training process does not lead to a so-called “silent alignment of interests” where the regulatory and personnel system is subordinated in advance to only one vendor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serbia is at the very beginning of a decade-long path. The success of Phase 1 will primarily be measured by the state’s ability to create independent experts and institutions that can critically evaluate any offer on the global market. But, bearing in mind the news<\/a> we just had \u2013 also by the ability to anticipate potential developments in the economic, social, and even climate context in which energy in Serbia will develop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source: Ministry of Mining and Energy RS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.A.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Minister of Mining and Energy Dubravka \u0110edovi\u0107 Handanovi\u0107 signed a partnership agreement between the Republic of Serbia, \u00c9lectricit\u00e9 de France<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3455,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[46],"class_list":["post-3459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vesti","tag-srbija"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3460,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3459\/revisions\/3460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nuklearnaperspektiva.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}