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Energy Minister : Romania's uranium ore is in the process of natural depletion
The situation at the Uranium National Corporation (CNU) is one of the most resounding failures in the system on a managerial and public policy level, and solving the problems entails re-opening some new blocks and retooling investment, Energy Minister Victor Grigorescu told a news conference on Tuesday.
He added that energy resources not being ensured for the period immedietaly ahead is out of the question, and the nuclear cycle will be maintained.
On the other hand, the minister pointed out that Nuclearelectrica's initiative to build up reserves to prevent complicated situations "is reasonable, efficient and correct in terms of security."
According to him, Romania's uranium ore is in the process of natural depletion and a new resource is long overdue in order to have constant production.
The minister thus answered a question on the situation of the uranium processing plant in Feldioara.
"We are contemplating many options as regards this company, strategic to Romania. May I remind you that Romania has a complete nuclear cycle, as we are one of the fewest European countries who have that; we produce uranium ore and go through the entire cycle, by processing it up to the energy production in the Cernavoda reactors. And yet I believe that before talking of any re-capitalization, merger, absorption, division solutions a.s.o., we should firstly do what we should have done long time ago, namely to admit that we have a naturally depleting uranium resource and that for long now we should have opened another, so we had a constant ore production, said Victor Grigorescu.
He mentioned that exploiting a new deposit takes several years.
"I remind you that the plan of closing the current exploitations was last time updated in 2011, so this is not a situation at the mercy of chance. Which is why, before talking about final solutions, we have the obligation to take care of immediate things, such as starting - actually carrying out, since they were already started - the opening procedures of a new perimeter in order to make sure we shall commence sooner a normal cycle," said the energy minister.