“By the end of the year, we will have an answer from these companies, as well as a project,” Rodin Traicu, secretary of state with the Economy Ministry, said Wednesday.
Czech company CEZ, German utility RWE, Spain’s Iberdrola and French-Belgian group GDF Suez quit the project early 2011 displeased with negotiations.
After their walkout, Romania’s Economy Ministry owns 86% of the firm that develops the project, through Nuclearelectrica, the operator of the Cernavoda nuclear plant. Other participants are electricity supplier Enel and steel processor ArcelorMittal.
According to Traicu, Enel and ArcelorMittal pledged they would stick to the project for at least one year.
The project to build the two reactors was launched in 2007 and works were scheduled to begin in 2010. After CEZ, RWE, Iberdrola and GDF SUEZ quit the project, works stalled as the government failed to attract new investors.