“Romania continues its strategy on nuclear power,” Serban told a seminar, adding there might be some changes that cannot be discussed at this time.
“We will know for sure whether we are alone in the project (the construction of the reactors), we will know whether Enel and ArcelorMittal are still interested. In about three months we will know,” Serban said.
The ministry official went on saying it would be time for the government to consider issuing state guarantees for the project, while state-owned Nuclearelectrica’s stake in the project company, 80%, should be reconsidered.
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.