Nuclear power in Europe

Bucharest. The comments on the low control over the transportation of Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River is among the headlines in the Romanian press today.

The Gandul daily notes that every year the Bulgarian ship Vasil Drumev and the boat Nautilus transport 60 tons of nuclear fuel from Kozloduy to the Ukrainian port of Ismail. The nuclear fuel used in Kozloduy is transported as waste to the Ukrainian port, from where the ship turns back loaded with fresh fuel.
According to the article the ‘tourist’ boats, used by the Romanian police to escort the cargo, often malfunction.

CEZ Romania expects the construction of the third and fourth reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear plant to be delayed about one year. On the other hand, CEZ bought in Eastern Romania a wind energy project evaluated at 100 million euro.

“We haven’t been invited until now to continue the negotiations for the construction of the two Cernavoda rectors”, said the CEZ Development Manager, Doru Voicu, who added that the company also waits for a response from Termoelectrica, in order to establish a partnership and build two thermal plants. (more…)

A number of countries in central, eastern and southeastern Europe plan to build new nuclear power reactors or extend the life of existing ones to meet growing domestic demand and replace ageing power capacity.

The plans mirror a worldwide nuclear boom as part of the solution to climate change. (more…)

WASHINGTON — Bulgaria has sent its remaining highly enriched uranium to Russia for safeguarding from terrorist or other potential misuse.

Nearly 14 pounds of the spent fuel were received Thursday at a Russian nuclear facility, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration announced. A first shipment of 37.3 pounds of fresh uranium fuel was sent to Russia in December 2003. (more…)

Romania is eyeing construction of a new nuclear plant with capacity of between 2,000 and 2,400 megawatts, whose first unit could come on line after 2020, the head of the state nuclear operator Nuclearelectrica said on Friday.

Along with some other former communist EU members, Romania is at the forefront of a renewed push for nuclear energy as an alternative to coal and gas which emit carbon dioxide, blamed for global warming. Nuclearelectrica operates Romania’s only nuclear power station in Cernavoda, where the first of two 706MW units went on stream in 1996. (more…)

Two nuclear reactors in Romania set to produce electricity are based on out-dated technology, critics of the power resource tell The Diplomat.

The nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, Constanta county, has plans to build two more reactors based on the same Canadian CANDU technology used in its existing two reactors.

Power companies such as Belgium’s Electrabel, Italy’s Enel, Spain’s Iberdrola, the Czech Republic’s CEZ, Arcelor-Mittal Romania and Germany’s RWE are six firms in the process of establishing a joint venture with the Romanian state’s nuclear power company Nuclearelectrica to raise the 2.2 billion Euro needed for the construction of the reactors. (more…)

BUCHAREST (Thomson Financial) – Romania plans to build a second nuclear power station to ensure its future energy independence, the head of Nuclearelectrica, Teodor Chirica, said.

‘After 2020, we’ll need a second nuclear power plant, with between two and four reactors,’ Chirica said at an energy strategy seminar here. (more…)

With France pushing for greater cooperation on nuclear power with Romania, the Canadians who first introduced nuclear tech to Romania argue the Gallic technology comes at a cost the country may not be willing to pay.

Romania plans to build a second nuclear power station, but its rumoured interest in French nuclear technology may prove too expensive an option. News of the country’s flirtation with French nuclear technology arose when President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Bucharest last February. (more…)

Bulgaria’s planned nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River posed a risk to Romania’s energy security, a top aide to Romanian president Traian Basescu said, as quoted by Romanian daily Business Standard on February 20 2008. (more…)

The Associated Press, November 14, 2007 – CONSTANTA, Romania: A nuclear reactor in Romania automatically switched off Wednesday for the second time in a week, officials said.

There was no danger to workers or to people living near the Cernavoda nuclear plant in eastern Romania, National Nuclear Electric Co. spokeswoman Mihaela Stiopol said. (more…)