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Minister of Economy hoping to sign agreement with Chinese company for Cernavoda units 3, 4 by spring 2015
Romania hopes to reach an agreement with China General Nuclear Power Holding Corp. regarding the construction of two new reactors for the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda until spring 2015 at the latest, Romanian Minister of Economy Constantin Nita declared in an interview for Bloomberg.
The Minister of Economy mentioned that Romania is determined to go ahead with plans regarding the construction of new reactors for the power plant in Cernavoda with the intent to balance the energy output given the rapid rise in the production of energy from renewable resources.
'We will build the reactors with the help of Chinese investors. (...) It's going to be a transparent procedure so that other investors would be able to participate too, but we have waited for 10 years for them to come and they haven't. So now, I'm convinced that we'll complete the talks this year or in the first quarter of next year at the latest,' Nita said in the interview.
Romania turned to Chinese investors to modernize its energy system after companies such as ArcelorMittal and Enel backed out of the construction project regarding reactors 3 and 4.
Constantin Nita also said that once an agreement is reached, China General Nuclear will hold the majority stake in this project, which, according to the Minister of Economy, is worth around 6.5 billion euro, and furthermore, the said company will also ensure the financing of the project. State-owned Nuclearelectrica SA will hold a minority stake in the project but its share has not yet been determined, said Nita.
The finalization of Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant represents the optimal solution to cover the power deficit after 2020, both from a technical and economic point of view, and also as regards the completion deadline and the use of internal resources and of the existing national infrastructure, developed on the CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) technology.
Vice Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea declared at the end of last month that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China will finance the projects agreed upon a year ago by the Romanian and Chinese Prime Ministers, with the first investments due at the Rovinari Power Plant and Reactors 3 and 4 of Cernavoda.