Ansaldo Nucleare News: signing of a new consortium agreement

Ansaldo Nucleare, Candu Energy Inc. e Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Ltd. conclude a tripartite consortium agreement in a significant move towards collaborative pursuit of the retubing and refurbishment project of Cernavoda Unit 1 Nuclear Power Plant in Romania developed by the state-owned Romanian nuclear energy company Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica S.A. (SNN) Cernavoda NPP operates two highly performant CANDU-6 (700MW) units, each with the design lifetime of 30 years. The Cernavoda Unit 1 has been in operation since 1996. In pursuit of extending its lifetime for additional 30 years, SNN initiated in 2017 a complex Unit 1 Refurbishment project, estimated at EUR 1.85 billion.
The project is currently in phase II which started in February 2022 and will be carried out until 2026. During this phase, the following main activities will be conducted: Providing the financial resources for carrying out the Unit 1 Refurbishment Project; Negotiating and granting the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract; Procuring equipment with a long manufacturing cycle; Assessing, Preparing and Scheduling the Activities to be carried out; Obtaining the Opinion of the European Commission – Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty; Obtaining all the authorizations and approvals necessary to start the project, etc.
Phase III, which will be carried out in the period 2027-2029 starts with the shutdown of Unit 1 and consists of the actual performance of the Unit 1 retubing and refurbishment works and relevant testing, in order to be commercially operated for another lifecycle of 30 years, after the year 2029.
Candu Energy Inc. (Candu), an AtkinsRéalis Company, is the original equipment designer and manufacturer and steward of CANDU technology worldwide while Ansaldo Nucleare is the original designer of the Balance of Plant of Cernavoda Units 1 and 2. In the forthcoming project, Candu and Ansaldo Nucleare will lead the engineering and procurement aspects of Nuclear Steam Plant and Balance of Plant work respectively. KHNP, a major nuclear power plant operator, successfully completed a retubing project for one of its own reactors. Employing its capabilities, the company will spearhead the construction phase including infrastructures such as a radioactive waste storage.
Ansaldo Nucleare is honoured to reaffirm its historic collaboration with Candu at Cernavoda NPP, which has reached a new milestone in securing the lifetime extension of Unit 1, strengthened even further by the presence of the new partner KHNP. With the unique strengths harnessed, the synergistic partnership will cultivate an environment for a seamless and satisfactory delivery of the project to the client’s satisfaction. Ansaldo Nucleare is also pleased to be signing an MOU to explore further collaborations with KHNP on nuclear projects internationally.
Following Unit 1 Refurbishment, around 5.5 million MWh of clean, affordable, resilient energy will be delivered annually in SEN (National Energy System), and more than 5 million tons of CO2 will be avoided on an annual basis, for another 30 more years. Unit 1 of NPP (CNE) Cernavoda, with an installed power of 700 MW, was commissioned in 1996 and has delivered, up to the present, 133 million MWh, representing 9% of national consumption over a period of 26 years. Also, Unit 1 has prevented the release into the atmosphere of 130 million tons of CO2.