RSS
Building of units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant by a Chinese company, in early 2015
The building of units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant by a Chinese company will most likely start in early 2015. By the end of 2014, a governmental memorandum will be signed for carrying out the project, Romania's Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea said Thursday at the Government House after meeting visiting China's Executive Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli.
'I had an important meeting and an excellent conversation with China's Executive Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli, who has come to Romania on an official invitation I extended to him when I visited China this March. We reviewed all the joint projects we agreed on this March as well as the developments in each of them, and we noticed that three of the projects have advanced to a stage never before reached in the history of the relationship between Romania and China. We are talking about three projects that are almost complete,' Dragnea, Romania's minister of regional development and public administration, told a press conference on Thursday.
He mentioned that the first big project regards the Cernavoda nuclear-power plant.
'It is about Cernavoda, where two days ago, on September 23, a Chinese company submitted a biding bid for building units 3 and 4 of the plant. The negotiating board will analyse the bid and start negotiations in the period immediately ahead. Our time horizon is the end of the current year, by which time negotiations should finalise and a joint memorandum for conducting these investment projects should be signed,' said Dragnea.
He explained that almost all the negotiation stages have been exhausted and they were not easy because there were only some months for them to be conducted.
'This is a much more complex mechanism. The negotiations so far have been quite hard and the negotiations in the months ahead over a final mechanism promise to be even harder. There is no exchanging something for something else, but the company in question actually takes part in the building process and the actual operation of the plant. The most important condition was the use of Candu 6 technology for two units,' said Dragnea.
He added that this project of a high value will probably start in 2015 and mean 720 MW per unit, that is 1,440 MW in all, more than 1.5 billion euro worth of industrial orders in Romania, more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, plus additional revenue for the local public administrations and the national government.
He also said that a second project that is close to being signed regards a 500-MW lignite-firing power plant at Rovinari worth nearly 1 billion euros.
'Documents are expected to be signed this October. The company in question is currently in Romania. Then, there is the water power plant of Tarnita, with an aggregate power of 1,000 MW worth almost 1 billion euros. Three letters of intent have already been submitted for the investment, which is highly important to the national energy system of Romania,' Dragnea explained.
He also mentioned a project for a thermal power station at Mintia.
'It is about the Hunedoara Energy Compound, a company that this September signed a contract with a Chinese company for the upgrading of group 4 and the desulphurisation of groups 3 and 4, which has to be conducted urgently, or else the station will have to close,' said Dragnea.
He added that as far as the construction of technology parks in partnership with China is concerned, a first park to be quickly completed will be the first as an example of good practice, as agreed with the Chinese executive vice-premier.