Romania

As of 31 December 2022

Two CANDU-6 PHWRs operate at the Cernavoda plant, 150 km east of Bucharest. In addition to electricity, the plant provides district heating to the adjacent town of Cernavoda.

Cernavoda was originally planned to be a five-unit plant. In December 2022 the Romanian government adopted a draft law covering a state support agreement with Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica (SNN) subsidiary EnergoNuclear relating to the estimated €7 billion ($7.4 billion) project to complete Cernavoda 3&4.

A three-phase project to upgrade unit 1 began in 2017. The second phase, due to last from February 2022 to 2026, covers the provision of the financial resources, negotiating and granting engineering, procurement and construction contracts, assessing, preparing and scheduling the activities to be carried out and obtaining all the authorizations necessary to start the project. The third phase, scheduled for 2027 to 2029, starts with the shutdown of unit 1 and includes all the work required on it and its recommissioning. The work would allow the reactor to operate for an additional 30 years, to 2060.

In December 2022 RoPower and NuScale Power signed a contract for the front-end engineering and design work for a VOYGR-6 SMR plant at Doicești in Romania's Muntenia region. In May 2023 the USA, along with multinational public-private partners from Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, announced funding for the project.

Figure Ro1. Annual electricity output (TWh) and age of reactors (years) at time of generation

Figure Ro2. Average capacity factor of reactors in Romania

Figure Ro3. Emissions avoidance through use of nuclear generation in Romania

WNN Links

Romanian government adopts draft law on Cernavoda 3 and 4 : World Nuclear News - 21 December 2022

Romania's NuScale SMR plan gets USD275 million boost : World Nuclear News - 22 May 2023