China Nuclear Power Engineering interested to invest in Romania's Cernavoda 3 and 4 reactors

Chinese company China Nuclear Power Engineering has shown interest to invest in Romania's 3 and 4 Cernavoda nuclear reactors and will sign a confidentiality agreement in October, allowing the Chinese company to continue negotiations for this project, according to Romania's Economy Minister Ion Ariton. Works on this project should start in 2013 and be ended in August 2019, two years after the previously announced deadline. This comes after RWE, Iberdrola and GDF Suez gave up on the project and sold their stakes in EnergoNuclear, the Cernavoda project company, to state- owned Nuclearelectrica, for EUR 4 million. Romania's Economy Minister Ariton has recently met the management of the Chinese company in Shenzen, while on an official visit to China. The company has previously held talks for the project in Romania. The Cernavoda 3 and 4 reactors project is estimated at around EUR 4 billion. The state owns 85 percent in the project, through Nuclearelectrica. After a private investor will be attracted in the project, the state's stake will diminish to 40 percent. Romania currently has two nuclear reactors in Cernavoda, each with an installed capacity of 720 MW. The two new reactors should bring an annual energy supply of 11 TWh to Romania's power grid. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Sxc.hu)