Company established for new Romanian reactors

Friday, 3 April 2009

EnergoNuclear SA has been formally established to undertake the construction, commissioning and operation of two new reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear power plant in Romania.
 

Cernavoda (Image: AECL)

An agreement was signed in November 2008 by representatives from the seven companies investing in the construction of units 3 and 4 at the Cernavoda plant, which specified what share in the project they will each hold.
 
Under that agreement, Romania's state-owned Nuclearelectrica SA will hold a 51% stake in the company, while Czech utility CEZ, Belgium's Electrabel (part of GDF-Suez), Italy's Enel and Germany's RWE Power will each hold a 9.15% stake. In addition, Spain's Iberdrola and global steel producer ArcelorMittal will each hold a 6.2% stake in the project company.
 
The articles of association for the project company were signed on 17 December and EnergoNuclear was registered with the Romanian Trade Register on 25 March. A general meeting of the shareholders and a meeting of the board of directors was held on 2 April.
 
At the general meeting, shareholders formalized the appointment of Tudor Serban, secretary of state with the Ministry of Economy, as president of the company. In addition, the board appointed the management team for EnergoNuclear, based on nominations submitted by the shareholders. Dan Ionescu has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Silvia Damian as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and Mircea Gheorghe as Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
 
The €4 billion ($5 billion) project is to be conducted in two stages and is expected to take about six years to complete. The pre-project phase for the two 720 MWe Candu reactors will last about 18 months and during which preparatory work will be conducted. This will involve the development of technical and commercial specifications, calls for bids, engineering documentation, sit works and evaluation of tenders for the general contractor. At the same time, the investors will finalise arrangements relating to the construction, long-term operation and financing of the two new Cernavoda units.