Canadian engineering and construction firm SNC-Lavalin has won a USD 48 million contract with Romanian company Societatea Naţională Nuclearelectrica to install reactor containment filtered venting systems at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania.

“The units at the Cernavoda plant are rated among the best in Europe and this project is part of an industry-wide upgrade strategy for nuclear plant safety in the event of serious accidents or natural disasters, such as those that occurred at Fukushima in Japan,” said Patrick Lamarre, Executive Vice-President, SNC-Lavalin.

Engineering and procurement activities are underway, while the expected completion date is late 2013. SNC-Lavalin has offices across Canada and in over 40 other countries around the world, and currently works in some 100 countries.

The two reactors at Romania’s Cernavoda nuclear power plant produced around 7.7 million MWh in the first eight months of 2011, according to Nuclearelectrica. Several international companies have expressed interest in building reactors 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda power plant in Romania. The investment in reactors 3 and 4 was estimated at EUR 4 billion in 2008 but it will be reanalyzed, officials have said. The two new reactors should be finished in 2019. The project is led by EnergoNuclear, in which state company Nuclearelectrica controls 85.6 percent.

Corina Saceanu, corina@romania-insider.com

(phoro source: Nuclearelectrica)