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The Nuclear Power Plant in
Cernavodă Cernavodă () is a town in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania with a population of 15,088 as of 2021. The town's name is derived from the Bulgarian ''černa voda'' ( in Cyrillic), meaning 'black water'. This name is regarded by some s ...
() is the only
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...
in Romania. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses
CANDU reactor The CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide (heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. CA ...
technology from
AECL Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the ...
, using
heavy water Heavy water (deuterium oxide, , ) is a form of water (molecule), water in which hydrogen atoms are all deuterium ( or D, also known as ''heavy hydrogen'') rather than the common hydrogen-1 isotope (, also called ''protium'') that makes up most o ...
produced at
Drobeta-Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. It is one of six Romanian county seats List of cities and towns on the river Danube, lyin ...
as its
neutron moderator In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, ideally without capturing any, leaving them as thermal neutrons with only minimal (thermal) kinetic energy. These thermal neutrons are immensely ...
and as its coolant agent. By using nuclear power, Romania is able to reduce its
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities intensify the greenhouse effect. This contributes to climate change. Carbon dioxide (), from burning fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum, oil, and natural gas, is the main cause of climate chan ...
by over 10 million tonnes each year. CNE-INVEST is responsible for the preservation of Units 3–5.


History

During the Communist era, the idea of building a nuclear power plant arose. A first plan to build the power plant on the
Olt River The Olt ( Romanian and Hungarian; ; or ', , ''Alytos'') is a river in Romania. It is long, and its basin area is . It is the longest river flowing exclusively through Romania. Its average discharge at the mouth is . It originates in the Hă ...
with Soviet technology was rejected by
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
as he wanted the country to remain independent of the
USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
and avoid potential " energy blackmail". Before the project started, a team of Romanian researchers traveled to the United States in 1968 for an American Nuclear Society conference where they requested approval for the transfer of Canadian nuclear technology to Romania. The
United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by the U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry ...
s approved this request in 1970, and the feasibility study for the future power plant was completed in 1976. The project began in 1978, the same year as the military nuclear program, and the power plant was designed in Canada by
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in th ...
in the 1980s. The initial plan was to build four units, and schedule their startup from 1985 onward. A fifth unit was subsequently planned on the direct orders of Communist leader
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
during a visit to the site. The plant's originally planned units 1 to 4 are in a neat line and unit 5 is offset due to the local geology. Units 1 and 2 are currently operational. Three more partially completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the fall of the Ceaușescu regime, their work being halted since 1 December 1990.


Reactors


Unit 1

Unit 1, a
CANDU The CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide (heavy water) neutron moderator, moderator and its use of (originally, natural ...
6-type, was finished in 1996 and produces 706.5 MW of electricity. Its scheduled startup would have been circa 1985, had it not been for the economic factors at the time. It was commissioned and began operating at full power in 1996 and has had
capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...
s of 90 percent since 2005. In 2019 planning was progressing for a modernisation scheme for 30 years of plant life, to be carried out by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power who have experience of CANDU modernisation at Wolseong. A refurbishment outage is expected from December 2026 and December 2028. Optimization work was decided in 2022 to be done by Candu Energy Inc.


Unit 2

A consortium of
AECL Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL, Énergie atomique du Canada limitée, EACL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the ...
and Ansaldo Nucleare of Italy, along with the
Nuclearelectrica SN "Nuclearelectrica" S.A. (SNN) is a partially state-owned Romania, Romanian nuclear energy company incorporated in 1998 by the reorganization of RENEL. The company is under the authority of the Government of Romania, Ministry of Energy, and th ...
(SNN) SA, Romania's nuclear public utility, was contracted in 2003 to manage the construction of the partially completed Unit 2 power plant and to commission it into service. Four years later, Unit 2, another CANDU 6-reactor, achieved criticality on 6 May 2007 and was connected to the national grid on 7 August. It began operating at full capacity on 12 September 2007, also producing 705,6 MW. Unit 2 was officially commissioned on October 5, 2007. With 2 units active, CNE-Cernavodă Station became the third largest power producer in the country.


Future expansion


Units 3 and 4

Units 3 and 4 were expected to be CANDU 6 reactors with a similar design to Unit 2 and will each have a capacity of ~700 MW. The project was estimated to take up to six years after the contracts are signed. A 2006 feasibility study carried out by Deloitte and Touche determined that the most economically viable scenario was to build the two reactors at the same time, with the cost estimated at €2.3 billion. On 20 November 2008,
Nuclearelectrica SN "Nuclearelectrica" S.A. (SNN) is a partially state-owned Romania, Romanian nuclear energy company incorporated in 1998 by the reorganization of RENEL. The company is under the authority of the Government of Romania, Ministry of Energy, and th ...
,
ArcelorMittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourg-based multinational steel manufacturing corporation, headquartered in Luxembourg City. It is ranked second on the list of steel producers behind Baowu, and had an annual crude steel production of 58 millio ...
, ČEZ,
GDF Suez Engie SA (stylised in all caps as ENGIE) is a French multinational electric utility company, headquartered in La Défense, Courbevoie. Its activities cover electricity generation and distribution, natural gas, nuclear power, renewable energy ...
,
Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel was first established as a public body at the end of 1962, and then transformed into a limited company in 1992. In 1999, following the liberali ...
,
Iberdrola Iberdrola, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational electric utility company based in Bilbao, Spain. It has around 40,000 employees and serves around 30 million customers. Subsidiary, Subsidiaries include ScottishPower (United Kingdom), Ava ...
, and RWE agreed to set up a joint company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4. The company named Energonuclear was registered in March 2009. 20 January 2011, GDF Suez, Iberdrola and [ RWE pulled out of the project, following ČEZ which had already left in 2010, citing "Economic and market-related uncertainties surrounding this project, related for the most part to the present financial crisis, are not reconcilable now with the capital requirements of a new nuclear power project". That left Nuclearelectrica with large majority share in the project, prompting a search for other investors. In November 2013, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) signed an agreement to invest in the project at an undisclosed level. Shortly thereafter, ArcelorMittal and Enel announced plans to sell their stakes. In 2016 the Romanian government gave support for the creation of a joint venture led by CGN to progress the project. In November 2015
Nuclearelectrica SN "Nuclearelectrica" S.A. (SNN) is a partially state-owned Romania, Romanian nuclear energy company incorporated in 1998 by the reorganization of RENEL. The company is under the authority of the Government of Romania, Ministry of Energy, and th ...
and CGN signed a memorandum of understanding regarding the construction, operation and decommissioning of Cernavoda 3 and 4. However, in January 2020 the government under Ludovic Orban decided to abandon the proposal. In October 2020, new plans were launched with cooperation from the United States, Canada, and France. The two reactors are expected to become functional in 2030 and 2031, respectively. In November 2024, an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to finish Units 3 and 4 was signed by a joint venture consisting of Fluor, AtkinsRéalis, Ansaldo Nucleare, and Sargent & Lundy Energie. The contract was signed at the 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) and is worth €3.2 billion.


Unit 5

There are currently no plans to complete Unit 5 at this time. However, the possibility of finishing construction remains.


Tritium removal facility

In June 2024, construction work began on the
tritium Tritium () or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with a half-life of ~12.33 years. The tritium nucleus (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of the ...
removal facility at Cernavodă. The facility, built by Nuclearelectrica with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, will use technology developed in Romania and will become the third such facility in the world and the first in Europe. The project was started in 2023 after the contract worth $200 million was signed.


Incidents

* In mid-2003, the sole operating reactor at the time had to be closed, because of the lack of cooling water. It was brought back online after roughly 2–3 months. * On 8 April 2009, the second reactor of the Romania's Cernavodă NPP was shut down due to a malfunction which led to electrical outages. * On 30 May 2009, Unit 1 was shut down following a water pipe crack. The Cernavodă NPP's second unit was undergoing an overhaul, so it was not producing any electricity. * On 16 January 2010, the first unit was shut down due to steam leakage.


See also

* Energy in Romania * Nuclear power in Romania * Atucha Nuclear Power Plant - another heavy water reactor whose construction was completed after decades of interruption


References


External links


Official site

CBC clip discussing the construction of the plant
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant Nuclear power stations in Romania Buildings and structures in Constanța County Nuclear power stations with proposed reactors Nuclear power stations using CANDU reactors