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Officials with the Ministry of Energy of Romania's Government and of the Chinese CGN company on Wednesday inked the investors' agreement for the project of the reactors 3 and 4 of Cernavoda nuclear plant, southeastern Romania, which will allow the establishment of a project company and the actual kick off of construction in the next two-three years, Energy Minister Anton Anton said.
"In my opinion, it is a very important day. What has been signed here under our eyes is not a formal stage of a long and strenous process, but the first palpable signal towards building the two reactors. The first step after 14 years of wishes and four years of negotiations with the Chinese partners, who have been selected following a lawful process in 2014," Anton stated.
According to the minister, if until now two teams were meeting every now and then, as of Wednesday there will be only one team that will be able to discuss much faster the technical elements. He stressed that the reactors 3 and 4 are paramount to cover the country's energy necessary in the next period of time.
"Romania has great advantages in this sector, expertise, good schools, a complete nuclear cycle, from ore to waste disposal, it has the advantage of manufacturing the heavy water and obviously these advantages should now become fruitful. Let's wish the offspring to grow well!" Minister Anton said.
The minister specified that this year an accord between the Government of Romania and its Chinese counterpart will also be signed and if everything goes well, the actual works will kick off within two to three years.
The project company will deliver a new feasibility study. The old one by Ernst&Young in 2012, showed that the necessary investment for the two reactors needed EUR 6.45 billion.
The reactors 3 and 4 will have a 1,400 MW aggregated power and will double the capacity of the Cernavoda nuclear plant.
AGERPRES
