Romania’s Feldioara Uranium Concentrate Processing Plant (FPCU), a subsidiary of nuclear utility SN Nuclearelectrica (SNN), has won an international tender to deliver nuclear fuel in the form of uranium dioxide (UO2) to Argentina. FPCU has begun processing uranium oxide (U3O8) for the production of UO2 to supply Argentina’s NPPs for a period of one year.
Argentina’s power reactors, like those in Romania, are pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) which do not require enriched uranium to operate. Romania’s Cernavodă NPP comprises two 650 MWe Candu reactors. Argentina two PHWRs at its Atucha NPP and a Candu unit at Embalse.
“The fact that we are delivering nuclear raw materials for the first time to another country that owns and operates PHWR reactors is a source of pride and achievement for Nuclearelectrica and its subsidiary, FPCU Feldioara, but also for the development of the Romanian fuel cycle,” said Nuclearelectrica General Manager Cosmin Ghiță. “The agreement is a confirmation of the quality of the raw material processed at Feldioara.”
FPCU Feldioara General Manager Dr Agafiel Gelu Maracineanu noted: “Beyond supplying the raw material needed to manufacture fuel assemblies at FCN Pitesti and, subsequently, to operate units 1&2 at Cernavodă, at the highest level of quality to maintain excellence in the integrated nuclear production flow, we have set out to develop, expand our supply network and offer the nuclear fuel cycle in Romania a new international dimension.”
SNN agreed in 2021 to purchase the uranium processing line assets of Compania Nationala a Uraniului (CNU) at Feldioara as part of a plan to develop a Romanian integrated fuel cycle. In December 2022, SNN acquired a concession to some assets from CNU as well as a property right on the land related to these assets from the Ministry of Energy. These assets were then leased to FPCU Feldioara (a subsidiary of SNN) for the operation and start-up of the production process. Between January and March 2023, all the necessary steps were taken to authorise the production process and prepare the facilities for the start operation.
“The strategic decision to acquire part of Feldioara’s assets necessary for the processing of the raw material was aimed at preserving and developing the Romanian integrated nuclear fuel cycle, the integrated production capabilities in SNN,” said Cosmin Ghiță at the time. It was also aimed at “ensuring the production of fuel assemblies and the optimal operation of NFP Pitesti and Cernavodă NPP, in the context of expanding the capacity of the nuclear power plant, at an advantageous transaction cost”.
