Italy’s Ansaldo Energia, as part of a consortium with Canada’s Kandu Energy and South Korea’s Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power, has signed an agreement to carry out life extension works at Unit 1 of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania.
The company announced that it has secured a financing facility of up to 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) from state export credit agency Serviti Assikrativi del Comercio Estero (Sace).
The memorandum of understanding with Romania’s state-run nuclear operator Nuclear Electrica was signed during Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolak’s visit to Rome for a bilateral summit.
Ansaldo Energia said in a statement that its Ansaldo Nucleale subsidiary will be responsible for engineering and procurement to extend the life of the Cernavoda-1 power plant (650 MW Kandu Unit 6), which began commercial operation in 1996. . Suite No. 2 is identical. Cernavoda 2 began commercial operation in his 2007 year.
In 2017, Nuclearelectrica began a refurbishment project for Cernavoda 1 worth an estimated €1.85 billion, with the aim of extending its service life by 30 years.
As part of the latest deal, Ansaldo Nucriale will also help Nuclear Electrica complete the planned construction of Units 3 and 4 in Cernavoda in southeastern Romania, the Italian company said.
Last year, the Romanian government and Nuclear Electrica announced their intention to build two more Candu reactors at Cernavoda, Romania’s only commercial nuclear power plant.
Once the plant’s four Kandu reactors come online, the share of nuclear power in Romania’s electricity production will rise from around 19% at present to 36%.