Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant
Encyclopedia
Cernavoda
Cernavodă is a town in Constanţa County, Dobrogea, Romania with a population of 20,514.The town's name is derived from the Slavic černa voda , meaning "black water". This name is regarded by some scholars as a calque of the earlier Thracian name Axíopa, from IE *n.ksei "dark" and upā "water"...
is the only nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
. It produces around 20% of the country's electricity. It uses CANDU reactor
CANDU reactor
The CANDU reactor is a Canadian-invented, pressurized heavy water reactor. The acronym refers to its deuterium-oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel...
technology from AECL
AECL
AECL is an acronym that can stand for:*Advanced Electronics Company Limited*Atomic Energy of Canada Limited*Australian Egg Corporation Limited...
, using heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...
produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin
Drobeta-Turnu Severin is a city in Mehedinţi County, Oltenia, Romania, on the left bank of the Danube, below the Iron Gates.The city administers three villages: Dudaşu Schelei, Gura Văii, and Schela Cladovei...
as its neutron moderator
Neutron moderator
In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235....
and water from the Danube – Black Sea Canal for cooling.
By using nuclear power, Romania is able to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by over 10 million tonnes each year.
The power plant was designed in Canada by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory...
in the 1980s, during the Communist era
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
. The initial plan was to build five units.
Units 1 and 2 are currently fully operational. Three more partially completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the close of the Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
regime. Units 3 and 4 are in their planning stages, with expected completion dates of 2014 and 2015 respectively.
CNE-INVEST is responsible for the preservation of Units 3-5.
Unit 1
Unit 1, a CANDU 6-type, was finished in 1996 and produces 705.6 MW of electricity.It was commissioned and began operating at full power in 1996 and has had record capacity factors of 90 per cent since 2005.
Unit 2
A consortium of AECLAECL
AECL is an acronym that can stand for:*Advanced Electronics Company Limited*Atomic Energy of Canada Limited*Australian Egg Corporation Limited...
and Ansaldo Nucleare
Ansaldo Energia
Ansaldo Energia, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, is an Italian power engineering company. It is based in Genoa.-History:The parent company, Ansaldo, started in 1853. It was taken over by Finmeccanica in 1993...
of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, along with the Nuclearelectrica
Nuclearelectrica
Nuclearelectrica is a state-owned company, its shares being held by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, which has as main objective power generation with the only nuclear power plant in Romania....
(SNN) SA, Romania’s nuclear public utility, was contracted in 2003 to manage the construction of the partially completed Unit 2 power plant and to commission it into service.
Four years later, Unit 2, another CANDU 6-reactor, achieved criticality on 6 May 2007 and was connected to the national grid on 7 August. It began operating at full capacity on 12 September 2007, also producing 706MW.
Unit 2 was officially commissioned on Friday, October 5, 2007 during ceremonies attended by Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Călin Popescu-Tăriceanu
Calin Popescu-Tariceanu
Călin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tăriceanu is a Romanian politician. He was the Prime Minister of Romania between 29 December 2004 and 22 December 2008...
and senior officials from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). . This makes CNE-Cernavoda Station the largest power producer in the country.
Units 3 and 4
Units 3 and 4 were expected to be CANDU 6 reactors with a similar design to Unit 2 and will each have a capacity of 740 MW. Units 3 and 4 are expected to be operational by 2016-2017. The project was estimated to take up to six years after the contracts are signed.In a feasibility study carried out by Deloitte and Touche, the most economically viable scenario would be to build the two phases at the same time, with the cost estimated at €2.3 billion.
On 20 November 2008, Nuclearelectrica
Nuclearelectrica
Nuclearelectrica is a state-owned company, its shares being held by the Ministry of Economy and Commerce, which has as main objective power generation with the only nuclear power plant in Romania....
, ArcelorMittal, ČEZ
CEZ
CEZ stands for:* one of Falconbridge Ltd.'s refineries* a Czech news channel* IATA airport code for Cortez Municipal Airport* CEZ Group, a Czech energy company...
, GDF Suez
GDF Suez
GDF Suez S.A. is a French multinational energy company which operates in the fields of electricity generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. The world's largest utility after taking control of Britain's International Power, the company was initially formed by the merger of Gaz...
, Enel
Enel
Enel may refer to:*Enel SpA, an Italian electricity company*Enel , a fictional villain in the One Piece manga and anime series*Enel, meaning third in the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, cf. Awakening of the Elves...
, Iberdrola
Iberdrola
Iberdrola , headquartered in Bilbao, is a private utility with a global footprint and over 150 years of experience...
and RWE
RWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
agreed to set up a joint company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4. The company named Energonuclear was registered in March 2009.
20th of January 2011, GDF Suez
GDF Suez
GDF Suez S.A. is a French multinational energy company which operates in the fields of electricity generation and distribution, natural gas and renewable energy. The world's largest utility after taking control of Britain's International Power, the company was initially formed by the merger of Gaz...
, Iberdrola
Iberdrola
Iberdrola , headquartered in Bilbao, is a private utility with a global footprint and over 150 years of experience...
and RWE
RWE
RWE AG , is a German electric power and natural gas public utility company based in Essen. Through its various subsidiaries, the energy company contributes electricity and gas to more than 20 million electricity customers and 10 million gas customers, principally in Europe...
pulled out of the project, following ČEZ which already left last September, citing "Economic and market-related uncertainties surrounding this project, related for the most part to the present financial crisis, are not reconcilable now with the capital requirements of a new nuclear power project".
Units 5
There are currently no plans to complete Unit 5 http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/industry/080507-Cernavoda_2_achieves_initial_criticality.shtml at this time. However, the possibility of finishing construction remains.Incidents
- On 30 May 2009, Unit 1 of the Romania's Cernavoda NPP was shut down following a water pipe crack. The Cernavoda NPP's second unit was undergoing an overhaul, so it was not producing any electricity.
- On 8 Apr 2009, the second reactor of the Romania's Cernavoda NPP was shut down due to a malfunction which led to electrical outages.
- On Jan 16 2010, the first unit was shut down due to steam leakage.