Ansaldo Nucleare will develop nuclear energy in Romania

Ansaldo Nucleare has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica (SNN) for the renovation and expansion of the Cernavoda (CNE) nuclear plant in Romania.

The memorandum of understanding provides for the renovation of Unit 1 of the CNE and the construction of the new Units 3 and 4, with a substantial expansion of the facility. The collaboration is supported by the Italian foreign trade agency SACE, which deals with insurance coverage.

The project, potentially financeable up to 2 billion euros (2.16 billion dollars), will support Romania's objectives from the point of view of energy autonomy and the supply of energy from non-carbon sources.

CNE's two CANDU 6 type units have a capacity of 700 MW each and came into operation in 1996 and 2007.
Ansaldo Nucleare will be responsible for the design of the general coordination and the procurement of the components necessary to extend the life of Unit 1. Initially the power plant included 5 CANDU reactors for a total of 3.5 GW, but in the 2000s it was decided not to produce more than two because fossil energy was cheap and their construction did not seem justified.

This work will be carried out in collaboration with the Canadian company Candu Energy, a subsidiary of AtkinsRéalis and the Korean company Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power.

SNN is simultaneously planning the completion of Units 3 and 4. The new units will be based on the design of Unit 2, making the involvement of Ansaldo Nucleare as the original designer crucial. Unit 2 includes systems for converting nuclear fission energy into electricity.

The reactor used is of a particular type, the CANDU, which means Canadian Deuterium Uranium , because, unlike many reactors which use normal water, whether pressurized or boiling, as a moderator, CANDU is based on the use of heavy water, that is, with the hydrogen isotope deuterium in the water molecule, whose moderation capacity is superior.

Nuclearelectrica CEO Cosmin Ghita said: “The renovation of unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant and the completion of units 3 and 4 will lead, after 2031, to generating approximately 66% of Romania's clean energy with a significant impact on decarbonisation, avoiding 15 million tonnes of CO₂ per year”.

“With nuclear energy as a source available 24/7 and with a capacity factor above 90%, Nuclearelectrica's nuclear expansion investments will bring great benefits to Romania's long-term energy security, to its reliability and the socio-economic development of the value chain, from the growth of the Romanian supplier chain to the creation of jobs and a new generation of nuclear specialists.

“Our partnership with Ansaldo Nucleare is a long-standing collaboration, based on performance and professionalism, dating back to the beginning of the commissioning of Unit 1. We are therefore eager to continue this collaboration. Therefore, we look forward to continuing this collaboration for the new units.”

Ansaldo Nucleare therefore continues with the development of nuclear technologies, despite Italy being, at this moment, one of the countries that renounces nuclear energy itself.

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The article Ansaldo Nucleare will develop nuclear energy in Romania comes from Scenari Economici .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/ansaldo-nucleare-sviluppera-lenergia-nucleare-in-romania/ on Sat, 17 Feb 2024 09:00:47 +0000.