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PM Orban says deals with “Euro-Atlantic partners” for nuke reactors will be signed soon
Romania is close to signing an agreement with undisclosed "Euro-Atlantic partners" to complete the third and fourth reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, prime minister Ludovic Orban announced on July 23 as he visited the plant.
Romania will invest EUR 8-9 billion to build the two new reactors, which should be ready by 2030, and to reshuffle the first reactor.
"As soon as possible, after we establish a team at government level to explore the best options, we will negotiate and sign agreements to start these fundamental investments for Romania," said the prime minister, Profit.roreported.
In late May, the Government instructed Nuclearelectrica to begin talks to terminate the agreement signed with China General Nuclear Power (CGN) for the construction of two reactors at Cernavoda. The agreement with the Chinese, initiated by previous Social Democrat governments, has been criticized by Romania's strategic partners.
Last September, Social Democrat prime minister Viorica Dancila and US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry signed in New York a memorandum of understanding between Romania and the United States on strategic nuclear cooperation. The protocol follows the lines drawn by presidents Donald Trump and Klaus Iohannis in the Joint Declaration signed in Washington on August 21, 2019.
During a visit to the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant last week, Orban said that a government team will look for the best solutions for conducting the said investments, adding that "it is also of great interest to invest in a tritium recovery plant for the production of tritium, and obviously it is of great interest the use of the Cobalt 60 isotope as well, also an extremely useful and sought-after product that can generate economic advantages for Romania."
Orban commended the management team of the nuclear power plant. "I am commending the management team at Cernavoda for their results as they have managed to cut costs by about 10%, especially maintenance costs, increase profits by 120 million and increase the gross income of employees from 9,000 and something, to 14,000 and something," said the prime minister.
Asked about the year of completion of works on units 3 and 4, Orban said 2030 remains the deadline.
"We have already taken significant steps, (...), we are thinking of potential partners, negotiating the conditions so that they favour Romania as much as possible, a funding scheme for the investments and, certainly, the 2030 deadline is a deadline that we have set as an objective for the completion of reactors 3 and 4," said Orban.