Romania to Build Reactors With Chinese Money

"This is in important project for Romania. Next month will we sign the agreement for setting up a joint company with a Chinese partner, a company which will build up two new reactors at the Cernavoda plant," Romanian Energy Minister Andrei Gerea said on Friday. 

Last year, Nuclearelectrica, the company that runs Romania's sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda on the River Danube chose China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) as its investor for the development of the two new nuclear reactors.

CGN is to hold 51 per cent of the shares of the new company. The project is worth of some 6.5 billion euro, according to media reports.

The nuclear energy equipment is to be provided by Canada's Candu Energy. Two Canadian-designed nuclear units are already operating at Cernavoda, in the east of the country. Together they supply around 20 per cent of Romania's electricity needs.

Construction of the long-delayed units 3 and 4 at Cernavoda was postponed in 2011 when some of the partner companies, including Germany's RWE, France's GDF Suez and Spain's Iberdrola, dropped out, citing economic uncertainties.

The construction of the new nuclear reactors is not the sole planned Chinese investment in Romania's energy sector. 

Last month, the government approved a draft agreement allowing state-run thermal electricity producer Complexul Energetic Oltenia to negotiate with China Huadian Engineering about the construction of new facilities at the Rovinari power plant in southern Romania.

The planned joint venture company would borrow some 575 million euro to implement its plan, which represents over two-thirds of the investment's total value.

The Chinese group will have a 91.06 per cent stake in the company. Complexul Energetic Oltenia...