This is a new deadline for the partial completion of the structure that will take up 40 hectares, which was initially supposed to be built by 2014.
The building of this storage facility is mandatory considering the Cernavoda nuclear power plant is currently storing radioactive waste on-site. The plant generates 20% of Romania’s electricity.
“This delay is only on paper and does not mean anything. The deadline for the completion of the storage facility is tightly connected to the duration of the extension of the life span of Cernavoda’s Reactor 1,” said Florin Tatar, chairman of Romania’s Nuclear and Radioactive Waste Agency (ANDR).
“We are in talks with Nuclearelectrica (SNN.RO) to set this deadline, but the first phase should be done by 2020. We don’t have any storage problems now. The storage facility will definitely be built.”
Surveys pointed to Saligny town near the nuclear power plant as the best location for the storage facility.
“No final decision over picking Saligny has been made yet. There are other sites, as well, but Saligny is very good because it is close to Cernavoda. Shipping the radioactive waste to the other end of the country is not a solution. We have already started drilling in Saligny to check geological stability,” Tatar explained.
The first phase of the investment is estimated at EUR40 million, and the project will be gradually built depending on the needs of the Cernavoda power plant, which has two reactors running now, he added.
“This is multi-phase project. We are trying to find investors because we cannot wait any longer.”
The first reactor in Cernavoda became operational at the end of 1996 and the second in 2007.
“With CANDU reactors (the kind used in Cernavoda i.e.) it may take 30 years before making the decision to extend the life span, but that is up to Nuclearelectrica to decide.”
Nuclearelectrica is already contributing towards the project via a tax it pays on the electricity production, setting aside EUR2 per each megawatt generated by the two reactors in Cernavoda.
According to the latest data published by Mediafax news agency, Nuclearelectrica’s contribution amounted to 545 million lei (EUR123 million) between 2004 and November 30, 2013. (EUR1=RON4.4419)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)