COUNTRY PAVILLIONS | WNE2025 Romania: New build plans take shape
With two new reactors under development and plans to take the lead in European SMR development, around two thirds of Romania’s low-carbon electricity will come from nuclear energy
Romania has two CANDU 6 operable nuclear reactors rated at 660 MWe each and which together generate about 20% of the total national electricity supply. The two units, which began operations in 1996 and 2007 are located at Cernavoda on a tributary of the Danube about 160 km east of Bucharest. Construction of three more units began at the site, but was stopped in 1990 when unit 3 was 52% complete and unit 4 was 30% complete. Now, with renewed policy backing of nuclear power, the government plans to complete two of the units at the Cernavoda site, units 3 and 4. Again these are to be a CANDU 6 design but uprated to 720 MWe each. These new units are currently expected to begin operations in 2031 and 2032. Late in 2024, the Romanian government signed an engineering,
procurement & construction management (EPCM) contract for the completion of these units with the FCSA Joint Venture, which includes Fluor, AtkinsRéalis, Ansaldo Nucleare and Sargent & Lundy Energie. A separate agreement signed during the same period will cover a life extension programme for Unit 1 of the plant, which will be thirty years old at the end of next year. The Plant Life Extension will add a further 30 years to the operating life of the unit but will mean shutting down the unit for about two and a half years. Meanwhile, Unit 2 holds the world record for highest capacity factor of any nuclear reactor globally. More recently, in September, the Romanian nuclear utility SN
Nuclearelectrica and a banking syndicate led by J.P. Morgan signed the financing agreements for construction of Cernavoda NPP Units 3 and 4 as well as refurbishment of unit 1. A €540m loan will be used to fund the refurbishment while a further €80m will be used to finance the next phase of the Cernavoda 3 and 4 construction project. Cernavoda 3&4 would be first new CANDU reactors to be built
since 2007. Once units 3 and 4 are connected to the grid and the refurbished unit 1 is operating, the government says two thirds of Romania’s clean energy will be provided by nuclear energy. Alongside the development of nuclear energy from large heavy
water CANDU reactors, Romania is also actively pursuing development of small modular reactors (SMRs) too and the country is aiming to
Above: Romania is actively pursuing development of SMRs at a site in Doicești
become one of the first in Europe to implement SMR development at a site in Doicești. The proposed project, located on the site of a former thermal power plant, will see six NuScale Voygr modules with a capacity of 77 MWe each for a total capacity of 462 MWe. In July last, Nuclearelectrica and project company RoPower signed a Front-End Engineering and Design contract with Fluor for the SMR projecta and in February this year named TUV SUD as owners’ engineer. More recently, in September, the first pre-licensing project for
an SMR was launched for the EAGLES-300 SMR design, based on a Generation IV lead-cooled fast reactor with delivery of a first demonstrator envisaged by 2035 and the SMR operational by 2039. The pre-licensing project will help the nuclear regulators of Belgium, Romania and Italy harmonise their regulatory approaches to support development of the design. The EAGLES consortium has access to two key test facilities, including RATEN-ICN’s facility in Mioveni, near Pitești in Romania where the ALFRED project will be upgraded to serve as a stepping stone toward commercial deployment with a 300 MWt demonstration unit expected to be built there.
Above: Cernavoda unit 1 is to benefi t from a 30-year life extension programme
www.neimagazine.com | WNE Special Edition | 83
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108
