ROMANIA: Banks Interested to Finance Cernavoda Reactors 3 and 4

Romania needs to lobby in Brussels for a more flexible granting of state aids, declared Tudor Serban, state secretary in Ministry of Economy.

The banks are monitoring with great interest the construction of the nuclear reactors 3 and 4 from the nuclear-electric plant from Cernavoda, and they are definitely interested to fund it, Ribiana Crasan, director with BRD-Societe Generale, has recently declared, Mediafax informs.

“We have funded also reactor 2,” said Crasan in a debate over the information of the MEPs about the construction of nuclear units 3 and 4 from Cernavoda plant.

The state secretary in the Ministry of Economy, present at the debate, said that a delegation of MEPs will pay an information visit to Cernavoda in December. “Everything will be finalized with a visit in December at the Cernavoda plant, for the information of the MEPs,” Serban said. In his turn, the general director of Nuclearelectrica, Pompiliu Budulan, said that for the time being the state maintains its participation of 51 per cent in the company which will build units 3 and 4. Nuclearelectrica director added that several banks are interested to finance the construction of reactors 3 and 4, among which Royal Bank of Scotland and Export Development Corporation from Canada.

According to Nuclearelectrica data, the civil engineering at units 3 and 4, based on CANDU technology, is in an advanced stage, respective 52 per cent at reactor 3 and 30 per cent at reactor 4. The total value of the project is estimated at EUR 4 bln, the state funding 51 per cent of it through Nuclearelectrica. Budulan said that the firms AECL and Ansaldo will collaborate to the construction of the two reactors. He stressed that the main asset of Romania is that it can assure the sources of nuclear fuel for the units that produce electricity.

On another hand, Romania will have very big problems with the funding of the energetic projects, evaluated at EUR 15-20 bln, because the state cannot support them financially, and it must lobby powerfully in Brussels in favour of a more flexible granting of state aid, the state secretary Tudor Serban declared on Friday for Mediafax. The investments in the energy sector can be run only by specialized companies, but they need a support that would not be considered state aid by the European authorities.

The location of the future nuclear station still unknown

The location of the future nuclear station, that the state intends to build, will not be known this year, Tudor Serban also mentioned on Friday, according to Mediafax. The interim minister of economy, Adriean Videanu, has recently declared that the location of this week could be presented in two weeks time. Serban added that the locations considered by the authorities are secret.

INS: Slight increase of energy resources last year

The resources of energy and the final consumption of energy registered last year a slight growth compared to 2007, of 2 per cent, to 49.5 million tons oil equivalent (toe), and respectively 1 per cent, to 25.303 million toe, according to the data of the National Institute of Statistics (INS), Mediafax informs. The advance of the resources of energy was due both to the increase of the production of primary energy (+5.7 per cent, respectively 1.56 mln toe), and growth of the stock in January 2008 (+10.9 per cent, respectively 423 000 toe), lessening in this way the fall of imports (-1.013 mln toe), reads an INS press release.

by Monica Apostol
Source: Nine o'Clock