Romanian Nuclear Pwr Plant Cernavoda Operates Safely – Manager

„The plant at Cernavoda is capable to respond to events such as the ones at Fukushima. The plant’s stability has been verified, while our capacity to operate it in safety conditions was checked by international teams, with the last verification in November 2010,” the plant’s general manager Ionel Bucur told a news conference Wednesday.

The plant in Cernavoda currently operates two reactors that use locally-produced nuclear fuel and it ensures around 20% of the country’s electricity production. The authorities plan to build another two reactors that will cumulate around 1,400 megawatts of installed power.

Romanian state-owned nuclear energy company Nuclearelectrica, the operator of the Cernavoda plant, said the unit was designed to endure earthquakes of magnitude 8 on the Richter scale, higher than the 7-7.5 degrees maximum intensity of earthquakes that may occur in Romania.

According to Nuclearelectrica, Romania presents no risks of facing an earthquake of such magnitude as the one in in Japan, of 9 degrees on the Richter scale.