Speaking after a summit on nuclear security, held in Seoul, Basescu said the new auction paperwork will be completed in April. He said he hopes the Romanian nuclear power oversight committee CNCAN will approve the document by the end of May so the auction may be launched in the second half of the year.
Basescu added that the new security requirements also concern finding alternative resources to cool reactors, apart from water from the Danube River.
He confirmed that South Korean investors are interested in participating in the project.
Basescu said Romania must also enhance security at Cernavoda’s reactors 1 and 2.
Romania’s Economy Ministry has recently extended to September 15 the deadline by which companies can bid for the development of reactors 3 and 4.
Nuclearelectrica, operator of nuclear power plant Cernavoda, is looking for new shareholders in the construction of the two reactors, after Czech CEZ, German RWE, Spanish Iberdrola and French GDF Suez walked out.
The two new reactors will have an installed power of 720 MW each and they will double the power plant’s output. The units currently running at Cernavoda cover 20% of Romania’s electricity consumption.