Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant
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The Nuclear Power Plant in Cernavodă (Template:Lang-ro) is the only nuclear power plant in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin as its neutron moderator and water from the Danube for cooling.
By using nuclear power, Romania is able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by over 10 million tonnes each year.
The power plant was designed in Canada by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the 1980s, during the Communist era. The initial plan was to build five units.
Units 1 and 2 are currently fully operational. Three more partially-completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the close of the Nicolae Ceauşescu regime. Units 3 and 4 are in their planning stages, with expected completion dates of 2014 and 2015 respectively.
CNE-INVEST is responsible for the preservation of Units 3-5.
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Reactors
Unit 1
Unit One was finished in 1996 and produces 705.6 MW of electricity.
It was commisionned and began operating at full power in 1996 and has had record capacity factors of 90 per cent since 2005. Unit 1 recently completed over 300 days without an interruption in service.
The reactor is a CANDU 6 type.
Unit 2
Unit Two achieved criticality on 6 May 2007 <ref>Cernavoda 2 achieves initial criticality</ref> and was connected to the national grid on 7 August. It began operating at full capacity on 12 September 2007<ref>Hotnews.ro, Reactorul 2 de la Cernavoda a ajuns la capacitate maxima ("The second unit at the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant reached at full capacity "), September 12, 2007</ref>, also producing 706MW.
Unit 2 was officially commissioned on Friday, October 5, 2007 during ceremonies attended by Romanian Prime Minister Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu and senior officials from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). <ref>2007 News Releases - Second CANDU Unit in European Union Officially In Service</ref>. This makes CNE-Cernavoda Station the largest power producer in the country.
A consortium of AECL and Ansaldo Nuclear of Italy, along with the Nuclearelectrica (SNN) SA, Romania’s nuclear public utility, were contracted in 2003 to manage the construction of the partially completed Unit 2 power plant and to commission it into service.
The reactor is a CANDU 6 type.
Future expansion
Units 3 and 4
Units 3 and 4 are expected to be CANDU 6 reactors with a similar design to Unit 2 and will each have a capacity of 750 MW. When completed, the four units combined are expected to provide up to 40 % of Romania's total electricity needs, reducing its dependence on fossil fuels for electricity generation. Units 3 and 4 are expected to be operational by 2014 and 2015 respectively. The project is estimated to take up to six years after the contracts are signed.
In a feasibility study carried out by Deloitte and Touche, the most economically viable scenario would be to build the two phases at the same time, with the cost estimated at €2.3 billion.
On 7 March 2008, Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal, CEZ, Electrabel, Enel, Iberdrola and RWE agreed to set up a company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4. The company is expected to be registered in May 2008.<ref name=wnn1>Template:Cite news</ref>
Unit 5
There are currently no plans to complete Unit Five [1] at this time. However, the possibility of finishing construction remains.
Options include the current CANDU 6 reactor, an enchanced CANDU 6 reactor producing 740 MW, or the Advanced CANDU Reactor.
See also
References
External links
Template:Power stations in Romaniabg:Черна вода (АЕЦ) de:Kernkraftwerk Cernavodă es:Central Nuclear de Cernavodă fr:Centrale nucléaire de Cernavodă pl:Elektrownia Jądrowa Cernavodă ro:Centrala Nucleară de la Cernavodă
