THE SENATOR ŞERBAN VALECA: "In 2050, 45% of the country's energy must be provided by the nuclear power plants"

Our country will have to ensure for itself 45% or the power demand from nuclear sources by 2050, compared to18-20% as it is for the moment, states the senator Şerban Valeca, who is also the president of the scientific council of the Piteşti Research Institute.

He explained yesterday in a conference: "The classical energy sources are going to exhaust at the global level, and the energy consumption will rise at the level of the 2050. The studies and prognoses show that the green energy can't provide more than 30% of the world demand due to the high volatility. And the industry needs a stable continuous energy. Transportation will also become more and more electrical, from motorcars to trains. In the case of Romania, we need to replace the old steam power plants that have a low output".

The senator states that our country needs beside the 3 and 4 reactors from Cernavodă, another nuclear power plant, since the studies are showing that, by 2025, the energy consumption will double compared to 2000. "We need another nuclear power plant with two state-of-the-art reactors", states Şerban Valeca.

 In December 2013, the Piteşti Nuclear Research Institute, ANSALDO Nucleare and ENEA initiated a consortium for the implementation of the ALFRED project in Romania, amounting to EUR 1 billion, by which it will be carried out a demonstration nuclear reactor of fourth generation, chilled by lead. This will be located on the ICN Piteşti platform from Mioveni.

Mr. Valeca stated yesterday that there is a chance for 80-90% of the funds to be provided by the European Commission, and the rest by our country, by different financing schemes, including through the attraction of new partners in the consortium. The financing structure will be made public in maximum one year and a half, said the senator, emphasizing that the purpose of research is to discover new technologies, that should allow a more rapid and less expensive construction of the nuclear power plants. Moreover, the technology must be a much safer one, with the replacement of the fuel every 15 years compared to the current situation that assumes an annual replacement.  

 Such a reactor is meant to solve some problems connected with the nuclear security, the treatment and radioactive waste conditioning, but also the physical protection of the radioactive materials and of the nuclear installations.