Earlier this week, Canadian officials unveiled their steadfast commitment to bolstering Romania’s energy security with a CAD 3 billion allocation in export financing to Nuclearelectrica S.A. (SNN), the operator of the Cernavoda Nuclear Generating Station.
The Honorable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, alongside Sebastian Burduja, Minister of Energy of Romania, revealed the agreement on September 19th, in Ottawa. The two country’s nuclear cooperation has been a pillar in their relationship for decades, and Romania now plans to build two new Canada deuterium uranium (CANDU) nuclear reactors at Cernavoda.
“The export financing announced today to support our Romanian partners will support the creation of new good jobs and economic activity in Canada,” said The Honorable Jonathan Wilkinson Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. “The new Cernavoda reactors will leverage Canadian CANDU technology to deliver clean and reliable power to communities while contributing to Canada’s efforts to support European energy security. Canadian nuclear expertise will continue to play an important role in helping the world accelerate to a clean and secure energy future.”
Projections suggest that the inclusion of two CANDU-6 reactors will propel nuclear power to supply 36% of Romania’s total electricity needs, a substantial increase from the current 21%. Equally remarkable, since the inception of operations in 2007, these nuclear advancements have spared the atmosphere from over 170 million tons of CO2 emissions.
“Our countries’ bilateral relations go way back. In the 70s, Romania took the historical decision to be the only country behind the Iron Curtain to develop a nuclear program based on Western technology and the only European country to choose CANDU technology (Canadian deuterium uranium) for its nuclear program. As the current geopolitical context has shown, this was the best decision that Romania could have taken at that time,” Sebastian Burduja Minister of Energy of Romania, said.
