Parliament Ratifies $8B Nuclear Power Romania-US Agreement

Romania's parliament has ratified an $8 billion agreement between the governments of Romania and the United States for the refurbishment of one nuclear reactor and the building of two new reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear facility in southeast Romania.

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The ratifying bill will move on to the head of state to be signed into law.

Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned company that operates the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, expects to start operating a third reactor in 2030 and a fourth in 2031. The power plant currently operates two 700-megawatt reactors, covering close to 20% of the country's energy consumption.

“The projects would allow Romania to heavily capitalize on domestic resources to ensure energy transition and keep energy consumption at sustainable prices. Nuclear projects come with a double advantage: competitive costs and zero CO2 emissions,” said Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita.

The refurbishment of Unit and the building of Units 3 and 4 would significantly contribute to CO2 emissions, thus doubling, after 2031, the amount of CO2 avoided by operating nuclear units from 10,000,000 tons of CO2 / year, currently, at 20,000,000 tons of CO2 / year.

The two nuclear projects will contribute to the development of the internal supply chain, will generate up to 9,000 jobs, will stimulate research, innovation and development in the nuclear industry, with an exponential macroeconomic growth effect and will determine the retention of highly qualified specialists, Nuclearelectrica said.

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