Chinese demand fixed energy price for investment in Romanian nuclear plant

Romania’s state owned electricity producer Nuclearelectrica and Chinese group China General Nuclear Power signed the memorandum of understanding for the Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania, an investment that should consolidate Romania’s position as a regional electricity hub and create some 16,000 jobs. However, in order for the project to move on, the Chinese have demanded that they get state guarantees. In other words, they want the Romanian state to guarantee a minimum selling price for the electricity that the new reactors will produce, reports Economica.net. This could prove a major obstacle, as the European Commission doesn’t easily agree to such state help in member states. The UK has negotiated for several years with the EU for a similar scheme in order to attract Chinese investments in the nuclear energy sector while Romania hasn’t even started the negotiations. In order to start such negotiations, Romania first needs a technical project, a project company, and the exact size of the investment. According to older estimates, the construction of the two nuclear reactors would cost some EUR 6 billion and the term to finalize the investment would be 7 years from the moment the contract is signed. editor@romania-insider.com