28 Jul (NucNet): Candu Energy has signed an “exclusive and binding” agreement with China Nuclear Power Engineering Company (CNPEC) for the construction of two Candu reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear station in Romania, Candu Energy said in a statement.
The company, a division of Canada‘s SNC-Lavalin, said Cernavoda-3 and Cernavoda-4 will be Candu 6 reactors, nearly identical to the two units already operating at the site, but upgraded to meet current safety standards, including post-Fukushima measures.
Candu Energy will provide the reactors to Romanian utility Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica and CNPEC will do the plant construction.
The agreement follows a letter of intent signed by CNPEC’s parent company China General Nuclear Power Group and Nuclearelectrica in November 2013 for investment in and development of two additional nuclear units at the Cernavoda site.
Cernavoda-1 and Cernavoda-2 are Romani’s only commercially operational nuclear units. Cernavoda-1 began commercial operation in December 1996 and Cernavoda-2 in October 2007.
The Cernavoda site was designed for five identical Candu units. A lack of financial resources and a drop in power demand in the early 1990s resulted in the suspension of construction work on units 3, 4 and 5. Efforts were instead concentrated on the completion of Cernavoda-1 and -2.
