Nuclear program in Serbia

We are reprinting the author’s text by Miodrag Krmar from the Department of Nuclear Physics, the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Novi Sad, originally published on the Peščanik portal. Krmar, one of the leading domestic experts, analyzes the visit of the EDF delegation, the role of the controversial company Egis, and raises key questions regarding Serbia's future nuclear program

Written by: Miodrag Krmar

In the sea of dramatic news that has followed one after another in recent days, our media have indeed given quite a lot of space to reports with a couple of episodes played out on domestic soil. Namely, Serbia was visited by a very high-level delegation from France's state-owned electricity company (Électricité de France, EDF). There were the president and CEO of EDF, the director for international development of EDF, and it seems that in the meantime they appointed a director for the development of business between Serbia and EDF, and he came as well. The high delegation was received by an unauthorised body, and they also in the Chamber of Commerce held a presentation of the Preliminary Technical Study on the peaceful use of nuclear energy in Serbia.

Quite impressive sounding, though I do not understand why this happened exactly now. The tender for the study was announced as early as summer 2024. In mid-September of the same year, the development of the study was awarded to EDF and Egis (Egis Industries). Somewhere around May 2025, almost all media announced its adoption, to learn in July 2025 that it had been completed, which passed without fanfare. Eight months is a fairly long waiting period.

Following the reports from our media, one detail immediately caught my eye: Egis, which participated in that matter, is nowhere mentioned. After all, they jointly participated in the tender. For those who may have forgotten, Egis is a large construction corporation from France that operates all over the world, but which also around the world carries serious corruption taints. In Serbia, cooperation with Egis proved particularly painful since they were the supervisory body on the works at the Novi Sad railway station. They were brought to Serbia to work on the Belgrade metro, thus they participated in the development of our nuclear program, and as they have performed well so far, it is no wonder that they are also building EXPO 2027, the nation's pride and the most expensive project that our grandchildren will be paying off. For those who like to verify what they read: twelve days after the canopy fell, they boasted that they bought the firm that designed EXPO 2027. Are they ashamed when we no longer mention them, or did they withdraw themselves since EXPO 2027 costs as much as two nuclear power plants.

As much as could be learned from the media, the preliminary study on the application of nuclear energy has three parts. The first two are devoted to what is already found in the technical documentation of the Vienna-based Atomic Agency (IAEA). The conclusion of the third part states that nuclear energy in Serbia could significantly contribute to the stability of the energy system and to reducing dependence on imports of electricity. I am perfectly sure that all our energy experts will be surprised by this conclusion, and will start blaming themselves for not having thought of it earlier. There were also cheerful news in the reports from this event. Cooperation with EDF continues on various topics, and one was disclosed to us by the competent minister: “Identifying and recognizing experts, their development and training are yet another area in which we will cooperate with EDF.” I hope it won't take another eight months before the French come to us again to hold a presentation on the best ways to spot and recognize experts in the wild. Which of us, all the many fools we are at the faculties, wouldn’t like to learn how to recognize an expert.

The author is a full professor at the Department of Nuclear Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in Novi Sad