Korean Companies Eye Stake In Cernavoda Nuke Project

05.27.2011 By Andrei Cîrchelan

A consortium formed of two South Korean companies wants to join the construction of reactors 3 and 4 at nuclear power plant Cernavoda, the Romanian Economy Ministry said in a news release Friday.

A delegation of the consortium KOREA International Nuclear KEPCO, which included people from KEPCO International Nuclear and Global Em Power Sistem Nuclear, met Friday with the Romanian economy minister, Ion Ariton, and during talks the companies showed interest in joining the construction of the two reactors, the ministry said.

Nuclearelectrica, operator of Romania's sole nuclear power plant, seeks new investors for the project, since energy groups CEZ (Czech Republic), RWE (Germany), Iberdrola (Spain) and GDF SUEZ (France-Belgium), walked out.

The investment in the two reactors was estimated at EUR4 billion in 2008, but it will be reanalyzed, and the completion deadline was pushed back to 2019.

EnergoNuclear, the project company, is 85.6% owned by Nuclearelectrica, while other shareholders include ArcelorMittal Romania and Italian group Enel.

The two reactors will each have an overall installed power of 720 MW, and they will double the plant's capacity.