The Romanian government will soon begin negotiations with Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) and several foreign banks on a credit package worth about $400 million to cover the cost of a second reactor at Cernavoda. Romania’s industry minister Dan Popescu stated that the reactor would not come on-line before 2003 or 2004. The plant’s first unit was built with help from AECL and came on-line in 1996.
The announcement came just a few days after the first reactor was taken off-line due to a fault in its water-pumping systems. The problem was corrected within two days.