Nuclear power stations in Romania (view)
 Active plants
 Future plants

Romania currently has 1,400 MW of nuclear power capacity by means of one active nuclear power plant with 2 reactors, which constitutes around 18% of the national power generation capacity of the country. This makes Romania the 24th largest user of nuclear power in the world.

Cernavodă nuclear plant

In 1977 the Romanian Government signed a contract with AECL to build a five unit nuclear power plant in Cernavodă using Canadian CANDU reactor technology. The heavy water reactor design uses heavy water (produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin) as its neutron moderator and water from the Danube for cooling. Construction started on the five reactors in 1980.[1]

Currently the plant has two fully operational reactors and another three reactors that are partially finished. Unit One took 16 years to build, completed in 1996. It produces 705.6 MW[2] of electricity. Unit Two took 27 years to build, achieving initial criticality in 2007[3] and produces 706 MW of electricity. Unit Three and Unit Four were expected to be operational by the year 2015 (thirty-five years after the start of construction) and the total electricity production of the units was to be around 1,500 MW. The total cost of the units is expected to be around US$6 billion. On 7 March 2008, Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal, CEZ, Electrabel, Enel, Iberdrola and RWE agreed to set up a company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4. The company is expected to be registered in May 2008.[4]

When four of the five reactors were to be fully functional the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant would have produced around 40% of Romania's total electricity needs.

Expansion of Cernavodă nuclear plant

In 2002 and 2006, Romania made efforts to complete unit 3 and 4, respectively. The cost estimate put completion of both reactors at EUR 2.5 billion, with seven companies investing into the project, including the state run Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica. The six other companies include ArcelorMittal, CEZ, Electrabel, ENEL, Iberdrola, and RWE. With investment from all these companies, unit 3 would be completed in 2014 and unit 4 in 2015. In March 2008, the Romanian government suggested that it might build another four-unit power plant by 2020.[5] The company that operates and maintains the power plant is Nuclearelectrica.

20 January 2011, GDF Suez, Iberdrola and RWE pulled out of the project, following ČEZ which had already left in 2010, citing "Economic and market-related uncertainties surrounding this project, related for the most part to the present financial crisis, are not reconcilable now with the capital requirements of a new nuclear power project".[6]

In November 2015 Nuclearelectrica and the China General Nuclear Power Group signed an memorandum of understanding regarding the construction, operation and decommissioning of Cernavoda 3 and 4.[7]

In February 2020 the prime minister announced that the country would no longer partner with CGN for the project. In October 2020 it was announced that the USA would finance the construction of Cernavoda 3&4, as well as the refurbishment programme of unit 1. In March 2021 Nuclearelectrica said it expects to commission unit 3 by 2031, starting construction in about 2024.The largely-new reactors will be updated versions of the Candu 6, but not the full EC6 version, since the concrete structures are already built. Unit 3 was reported to be 52% completed and 30% for unit 4, though in 2017 the reported figures were 15% and 14%. They would have an operating lifetime of 30 years with the possibility of a 25-year extension. Some 1000 tonnes of heavy water has been produced and is in storage.[8]

The partner for Nuclearelectrica in the construction will be from the USA, NuScale Power, rather than China, with a consortium of USA, Canada and France undertaking the construction.[9]

Nuclear waste

Currently, nuclear waste is stored at the reactors for up to ten years. Then the waste is transported to dry storage, which is based on the Macstor system designed by AECL. The government has conducted studies into a permanent geological repository.[10]

Energy production

Nuclear electricity production in Romania (TWh).[11]
Nuclear Total consumption Percentage[12]
1996 0.91 58.06 1.57%
1997 5.13 54.65 9.39%
1998 4.90 51.14 9.58%
1999 4.81 48.51 9.92%
2000 5.22 49.65 10.51%
2001 5.04 51.30 9.82%
2002 5.11 52.18 9.79%
2003 4.54 52.42 8.66%
2004 5.27 53.99 9.76%
2005 5.28 56.91 9.28%
2006[13] 5.63 62.69 8.98%
2007[12] 7.09 54.45 13.02%
2008 10.34 58.95 17.54%
2009 10.82 52.52 20.6%
2010 10.71 54.98 19.48%
2011 10.81 56.95 18.98%
2012 10.56 54.38 19.42%
2013 10.70 53.99 19.82%
2014 10.75 58.14 18.49%
2015 10.71 61.80 17.33%
2016 10.39 60.76 17.1%
2017 10.58 59.94 17.65%
2018 10.46 60.81 17.2%
2019 10.37 56.15 18.47%
2020 10.58 53.14 19.91%
2021 10.40 56.31 18.47%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A Candu fiasco in Romania" CBC: The Fifth Estate, 16 January 1990 <http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/a-candu-fiasco-in-romania>
  2. ↑ 2007 News Releases – Second CANDU Unit in European Union Officially In Service Archived 2007-11-17 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Cernavoda 2 achieves initial criticality Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ "Draft agreement finalized for Romanian reactors". World Nuclear News. 2008-03-07. Archived from the original on 2016-04-14. Retrieved 2008-03-07.
  5. ↑ "Nuclear Power in Romania." Australian Uranium Association. March 2008. <http://www.uic.com.au/nip93.htm>
  6. ↑ rwe.com 20 January 2011: GDF SUEZ, RWE and Iberdrola have decided not to continue to participate in the Cernavoda nuclear project in Romania. See also "UPDATE 2-RWE, Iberdrola, GDF Suez exit Romania nuclear plan". Reuters. 20 January 2011. Archived from the original on 16 June 2012.
  7. ↑ "Romania and USA agree to nuclear cooperation". World Nuclear News. 26 September 2019. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nuclear Power in Romania". June 2023.
  9. ↑ "Romania To Build Two New Nuclear Reactors with US Technology". 10 November 2022.
  10. ↑ "Nuclear Power in Romania." World Nuclear Association. March 2008. <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf93.html>
  11. ↑ "International Energy Annual (IEA) - long-term historical international energy statistics" Archived 2008-09-10 at the Wayback Machine
  12. 1 2 "PRIS Database - Country Profile Romania". IAEA. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  13. ↑ Electric energy production by type of energy plant Archived 2007-09-20 at the Wayback Machine, National Institute of Statistics
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