State-owned company Nuclearelectrica awarded a 1.9 billion euro contract on Thursday for the refurbishment of Unit 1 at Cernavoda. It is an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract and will enter into force after being approved by Nuclearelectrica shareholders at the AGM meeting, convened on January 22, 2025.
The consortium with which the contract is signed is made up of the Canadians from Candu Energy Inc., Canadian Commercial Corporation, the Italians from Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A and the Koreans from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd.
The contract consists of developing the detailed design and execution details, purchasing equipment and materials, performing re-tubing and retrofitting works, as well as building the necessary infrastructure for the retrofitting project of Unit 1 of the Cernavoda NPP.
In the summer, Nuclearelectrica and Canadian Nuclear Partners S.A. signed a framework agreement for the provision of consulting services for the preparation and implementation of the project to upgrade Unit 1 of the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant. This framework agreement for Project Management Organization (PMO) has an approximate value of 240 million euros. For this amount, the Canadian company will provide project management services, technical assistance; consulting services; professional training specific to the upgrade of the CANDU plant and the organization and coordination of the commissioning of Unit 1, until its return to commercial operation.
Also, in November 2023, Nuclearelectrica announced that it had awarded a contract for the supply of reactor tools and components, as well as engineering and technology services, necessary to extend the life of the CANDU reactor of Unit 1 of the Cernavodă NPP. The contract is valued at 545 million US dollars and was concluded with Candu Energy Inc. (CEI), an AtkinsRéalis company (SNC-Lavalin Group Inc.) and Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC), a federal state corporation.
Unit 1 of the Cernavodă NPP entered into commercial operation in 1996, has an installed capacity of 700 MWe, and in the 27 years of operation it has delivered 138,388,129 MWh to the National Energy System, at a capacity factor of over 90%, Nuclearelectrica informs. After the refurbishment, Unit 1 of the Cernavodă NPP will continue to produce approximately 5 TW annually and avoid the release of 5 million tons of CO2 annually, with nuclear energy having, over its entire life cycle, the lowest carbon footprint of all sources.