Work on major project expected to begin in 2026
Romanian state-owned nuclear power plant operator Nuclearelectrica has signed the main engineering, construction and procurement contract to extend the life of Unit 1 at the Cernavodă nuclear power station at a cost of about €1.9bn ($1.98bn), the company said on 19 December.
The contract is with a consortium of four companies, comprising Canada’s AtkinsRealis, the Canadian Commercial Corporation, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare. The agreement still needs approval from the Canadian government and Nuclearelectrica shareholders.
Cernavodă, which is Romania’s only commercial nuclear station, has two 650-MW Canada-designed Candu-6 plants that began commercial operation in 1996 and 2007.
The Candu technology is owned by Candu Energy Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Montreal-based AtkinsRealis, formerly SNC-Lavalin.
The operating lifetime of Unit 1, which began commercial operation in 1996, is to be extended by 30 years. Work on the lifetime extension project is expected to begin in 2026.
KHNP said that its share of the project will be about €840m ($873m), including replacement of major components and construction of infrastructure such as a radioactive waste storage facility.
The International Atomic Energy Agency put the share of electricity production from the two Cernavodă units in 2023 at 18.9%.
Bucharest’s Nuclear Plans Include SMRs
Bucharest is also planning to add two new Candu units at Cernavodă. In September 2023, Canada announced CAD3bn (€2bn, $2.2bn) in export financing to Nuclearelectrica towards the construction of the two new plants.
Last month the Romanian government approved the country’s first energy strategy in 17 years, envisaging a gradual shift up to 2035 from coal-fired power plants to natural gas in the short term and nuclear power in the medium and long term.
Nuclearelectrica is also aiming to build a small modular reactor plant using technology from US company NuScale Power, which could become Europe's first project using the technology.
The two new Cernavodă units and the SMR project would double Romania’s installed nuclear power capacity as it seeks to cut carbon emissions to meet EU reduction goals and improve energy security.
