[War] Romania/United States: "Into the Great Wide Open"

[Vampi Digitalwytch]

"Into the Great Wide Open"
xx July 2014
Pres. John Williams, USA
President Antanasia Danesti, Romania
====================
<Washington>

If it was Thursday...Wait. Was it Thursday?

After being woken up by his son at 5 AM, he still wasn't sure. But
either way, a brief check of his appointments calendar showed a call
to Bucharest was in order, so he picked up the phone.

"Sergeant, connect me to Bucharest, President's office, please.
Routine priority, scramble POLARIS," he said to the WHCA comms tech on
the other end.

With the usual run of chaos not so much at a lull but more of a level
that others could handle things for now, Antanasia was in her office
going over a few things that had managed to be pushed off to the sides
as greater issues demanded more attention.

Her aide knocked on her door.  "Madame President, Williams of the
Americans is on the line.", the young man said as she bid him enter.

"Ah, very good.  Patch him through.", she said as she set some papers aside.

The call patched through, Antanasia picked up.  "Good Day, President
Williams.  I hope things are well in your part of the world."

"Quiet may be a better word. The war is progressing about as well as
could be expected, Congress is in recess...Until one of those things
changes, I'm content," John chuckled. "And in your particular corner
of the planet, Madame President?"

"It is a case of so far so good.", Antanasia chuckled, "The film
studios are still flocking to film on the cheap and the call centres
are booming.  Sprinkle in some music festivals and there one goes."

While she did have some actual business to discuss with the American
President since he was on the line, it wasn't that often one got to
just small talk like normal people.

Who said they were normal? But that was a question for another time,
as John replied simply, "Mm, take what you can get. No doubt I'll hear
from the California delegation about Romania stealing their film jobs.
To which my response would be that that might be a good thing, if it
saves us from the cheesiest of movies." Pause. "But I have a feeling
your office didn't set this up strictly for us to mock Hollywood,
though."

"Indeed.", she replied, "I should have gotten back to you sooner
regarding this ANDA proposal.  From what I've read, it is quite
intriguing.  Intriguing enough that we would like to join in with
this."

Antanasia leaned over and rifled through some papers, "I would think
offering the equivalent of two billion American dollars would be a
nice starting contribution."

John tapped at the keyboard of the computer that he, unlike previous
Presidents (who'd cared more about their records not being subpoenaed
than efficiency to actually use one), had in the Oval Office. "Indeed
it would. We'll send the paperwork over this week, but...welcome to
the ANDA club. I was told that Romania might be looking to build a few
new reactors, actually?"

"You have heard rightly.", Antanasia replied, "It has been a long
problem with our current power facilities not only being outdated but
quite polluting.  Despite the usual misgivings, after much discussion
we are interested in American model facilities as we do not put much
stock in the Russian designed models."

"Ahh, well. Thank you for the vote of confidence. Actually, it sounds
like the perfect project for ANDA's civil-reactor unit - to design and
build a reactor optimized for power-generation in countries like
Romania, who're transitioning in from Russian models or who've never
used nuclear power before. Not a 'reactor with training wheels', if
you would, but focusing more on passive safety than, say, plutonium
extraction or being necessarily quick to build," John replied easily.
Because, well. Russian models had sucked at the safety aspect of
things. And he didn't want to think about Eastern European organized
crime groups getting their hands on plutonium.

"That does indeed sound perfect for our needs.  Should this succeed,
it will be well worth being the guinea pig and finally easing the old
fears regarding nuclear power.", Antanasia replied, "Once we have the
size specs for the designs, we will have land set aside for the
project."

"And even better - one of the stipulations of ANDA is that we share
the profits from when we build types in third countries. So you'd have
something of a profit share in future sales, depending on how much you
put in at the beginning," John noted. "That said, I'll get the RFP out
this week."

"Very good.", she said, "And if the first reactor goes well, we will
contribute more to the project."  She smiled though he couldn't see
it, "May this be the beginning of an excellent partnership much like
the aid your country gave mine with our education reforms."

"Let's hope."

-------------------------

Actions:
1. Romania signs on to the ANDA.
2. Project proposal: Power reactor, designed for those transitioning
from Russian models or new to nuclear power, with passive safety as
the focus more than ease of construction or plutonium production.

-- 
--I know there are no lifeguards in the gene pool, but damn, there
ought to be at least a few sharks in the water.