Romania and France on 26 October signed a declaration of intent for a partnership on the construction of reactors 3 and 4 and the upgrade of reactor 1 of the Cernavoda NPP, Romanian Prime MInister Ludovic Orban said during a two-day visit to France.
At the same time, Romanian nuclear utility Nuclearelectrica signed a partnership agreement with French nuclear group Orano. This came two weeks after Romania signed an agreement with the USA on the expansion of Cernavoda nuclear power plant.
Orban also signed a new roadmap on the strategic partnership between the two countries. “Our countries are connected through a strategic partnership, and the shared will is to give it an even more strategic character; this is why we have signed a new roadmap with an updated, ambitious structure that is meant to tighten even more the relations between France and Romania,” Orban said after a meeting with French Premier Jean Castex.
"Together with the French Prime Minister I also signed a Declaration of Intent on civil nuclear cooperation, aimed, among other things, at joining forces with strategic partners for carrying out the construction project of Cernavoda reactors 3 and 4 and for the capital repair, refurbishment of reactor 1, in an obviously wider framework with strategic partners. An extremely important project for Romania's energy policy," Orban told a press conference at the Romanian Embassy in France.
As announced in Washington earlier, France will be involved, together with the US and Canada, in the construction of the Cernavoda reactors as part of a $8bn project. A consortium led by US engineering firm Aecom and including Canadian, French and Romanian partners will develop the expansion at Cernavoda, in line with the intergovernmental agreement signed with the US on 6 October. Orano is be part of this arrangement. Under the agreement with Nuclearelectrica, Orano will process uranium at Romania’s Feldioara uranium processing and refinement plant.
Photo: Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban Met with the French Prime Minister Jean Castex earlier this week (Credit: Romanian Government)
