The European Commission agrees with the realization of units 3 and 4 from Cernavodă

The European Commission yesterday gave the green light, in terms of technical and nuclear security aspects, to the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Cernavodă, according to a press release issued by the Ministry of Energy. The quoted source shows that the project is carried out by the Energonuclear company, fully owned by Societatea Naţională Nuclearelectrica SA (SNN).

The press release states: "The Ministry of Energy welcomes the adoption of the European Commission's positive point of view regarding the project of Units 3 and 4 at CNE Cernavodă, based on Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty. The point of view was transmitted to the Romanian side on July 1, 2024 and reflects the assessment made by the European Commission - Directorate General for Energy, based on Article 41 Euratom - regarding the technical and nuclear security aspects related to the project".

Under the Euratom Treaty, nuclear project developers are required to notify the European Commission of investment projects in advance and demonstrate compliance with the highest nuclear safety standards. Energonuclear notified the project of Units 3 and 4 in May 2023. According to the cited source, the point of view of the Community Executive is the result of elaborate analyzes of the information provided by the Romanian side, of the visits to the CNE Cernavodă site and of the technical discussions that took place for a period of 13 months. Based on the evaluation carried out by the Commission, the project to complete the construction of Units 3 and 4 at CNE Cernavodă is in line with the objectives of the Euratom Treaty.

The positive view is accompanied by a series of recommendations usual for such projects aimed at the proper application of the Euratom framework in implementation and throughout the life of the project. These recommendations will be implemented by the project developer in the following stages.

Sebastian Burduja, the Minister of Energy, said: "I have stated since the beginning of my mandate that I support a balanced energy mix, which will solve the energy trilemma in this exact order: safe energy, affordable energy and green energy. I have dedicated significant resources in the first 12 months of my term as minister to accelerate our country's nuclear program, which includes the re-engineering of Unit 1, the construction of SMRs and, last but not least, the project of Units 3 and 4 at CNE Cernavodă. Today the European Commission confirms our progress and the construction of the two new reactors moves to the next stage".

According to the minister of energy, reactors 3 and 4 are key pillars of the national energy strategy, the two units will make an essential contribution in ensuring energy security at national and regional level. With 4 nuclear units in operation in Romania, it is estimated to avoid the emission of 20 million tons of CO2 annually and to create more than 19,000 jobs in the horizontal industry, states the Ministry of Energy.

The positive point of view communicated to the Romanian side represents an important stage in the implementation of the project, certifying compliance with the community framework in terms of nuclear security of the CANDU 6 technology and its implementation at Cernavodă.

The Ministry of Energy announced, in September of last year, the Canadian Government's intention to provide 3 billion Canadian dollars to finance the new CANDU nuclear reactors of the Cernavodă plant.

The Canadian Government's announced interest in financing the Units 3 and 4 project complements the interest expressed by the United States of America, through the US Exim Bank, to finance technical services provided by the US for the same units. Thus, there will be up to $50 million of the US export contract for pre-project technical services as part of the Engineering Multiplier Program (EMP), respectively up to three billion dollars of the US export contract for engineering and project management for the contract to complete Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant.

Nuclearelectrica is the Romanian national company producing electricity, heat and nuclear fuel that operates under the authority of the Ministry of Energy, the Romanian state holding 82.49% of the shares, and the other shareholders 17.50%, after the company's listing on the stock exchange in 2013.

CNE Branch (CNE) Cernavodă operates two CANDU nuclear units, which are two of the most performing units among the more than 400 nuclear power plants in the world, a nuclear fuel plant and is in the process of realizing an integrated fuel cycle through the acquisition a uranium concentrate processing line, in order to support the company's long-term investment projects.

Nuclear power generation capacities have no CO2 emissions, are available 24 hours from 24 hours a day, seven days a week, has an extremely low dependence on the climate factor and is safe. The operation of Units 1 and 2 has avoided the release of 205 million tonnes of CO2 since commissioning.