BUCHAREST, Feb 24 (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 ( SMR ), 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.