Bucharest planning two Canada-supplied Candu plants at site
Energonuclear, a subsidiary of Romania’s state nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica has signed a key contract for the construction of two new units at the Cernavodă nuclear power station.
Energonuclear signed the first phase of the engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract with a joint venture called FCSA comprising of Fluor BV, Fluor Energy Transition Inc, Wilmington Bucharest Branch, AtkinsRéalis, Ansaldo Nucleare, S&L Engineers Ltd and Sargent & Lundy Energie.
The EPCM contract, signed at the Cop29 UN climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, is structured in two phases. The value of the contract for both phases combined is estimated at €3.2bn ($3.3bn).
The first phase is the “limited notice to proceed” (LNTP) phase, which will last for 24-30 months. That will be followed by the “final notice to proceed” (FNTP) phase, which will last 80-84 months. The FNTP will be subject to commercial terms being further refined and agreed and a final investment decision taken.
The EPCM contract provides for services such as design services required for developing specific documentation, project development and management services, engineering services, procurement assistance services, technical assistance services up to the commissioning of the two planned units and quality assurance and development of an integrated quality assurance system.
Contract Is ‘Very Foundation Of Project’
“Today marks a major milestone in the advancement and ultimately the completion of Romania’s strategic Cernavodă NPP Units 3 and 4 project,” said Cosmin Ghita, Nuclearelectrica’s chief executive officer. “The EPCM contract represents the very foundation of the project.”
Bucharest is planning to add two new Canada-supplied Candu units at Cernavodă, the country’s only commercial nuclear station. Cernavodă has two Candu-6 plants that began commercial operation in 1996 and 2007.
The International Atomic Energy Agency put the share of electricity production from the two units in 2023 at 18.9%.
Romania has been planning two additional units at Cernavodă for some time. In 2020 Nuclearelectrica terminated an agreement signed with China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) for the plants.
In September 2023, Canada announced CAD3bn (€2bn, $2.2bn) in export financing to Nuclearelectrica towards the construction of the two new Candu reactors.
