Country Romania Commission date 2 December 1996 Reactor type PHWR Opened 2 December 1996 | Construction began 1980s Operator(s) Nuclearelectrica Reactor supplier CANDU Phone +40 241 239 337 | |
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Address Strada Medgidiei, Cernavodă 905200, Romania Similar Pressurized heavy‑water reactor, Danube–Black Sea Canal, Mintia‑Deva Power Station, Turceni Power Station, Brazi Power Station | ||
The Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavodă (Romanian: Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă) is a nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin as its neutron moderator and water from the Danube – Black Sea Canal for cooling.
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By using nuclear power, Romania is able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by over 10 million tonnes each year.
The power plant was designed in Canada by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the 1980s, and was contracted during the Communist era. The initial plan was to build five units. Units 1 and 2 are currently operational. Three more partially completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the fall of the Ceauşescu regime.
CNE-INVEST is responsible for the preservation of Units 3-5.
Unit 1
Unit 1, a CANDU 6-type, was finished in 1996 and produces 705.6 MW of electricity.
It was commissioned and began operating at full power in 1996 and has had record capacity factors of 90 percent since 2005.
Unit 2
A consortium of AECL and Ansaldo Nucleare of Italy, along with the Nuclearelectrica (SNN) SA, Romania’s nuclear public utility, was contracted in 2003 to manage the construction of the partially completed Unit 2 power plant and to commission it into service.
Four years later, Unit 2, another CANDU 6-reactor, achieved criticality on 6 May 2007 and was connected to the national grid on 7 August. It began operating at full capacity on 12 September 2007, also producing 706MW.
Unit 2 was officially commissioned on Friday, October 5, 2007 during ceremonies attended by Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and senior officials from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). This makes CNE-Cernavoda Station the third largest power producer in the country.
Units 3 and 4
Units 3 and 4 were expected to be CANDU 6 reactors with a similar design to Unit 2 and will each have a capacity of 720 MW. The project was estimated to take up to six years after the contracts are signed.
In a feasibility study carried out by Deloitte and Touche, the most economically viable scenario would be to build the two phases at the same time, with the cost estimated at €2.3 billion.
On 20 November 2008, Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal, ČEZ, GDF Suez, Enel, Iberdrola and RWE agreed to set up a joint company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4. The company named Energonuclear was registered in March 2009.
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". That left Nuclearelectrica with large majority share in the project, prompting a search for other investors. In November 2013, China General Nuclear Power Corp. (CGN) signed an agreement to invest in the project at an undisclosed level. Shortly thereafter, AcelorMittal and Enel announced plans to sell their stakes.
In 2016 the Romanian government gave support for the creation of a joint venture led by CGN to progress the project.
Unit 5
There are currently no plans to complete Unit 5 [1] at this time. However, the possibility of finishing construction remains.