Romania

Hypothesis: Cernavodă reactors poison us with tritium

Monday, October 12, 2009

The contradictory declarations made over time by the management of the National Company Nuclearelectrica and the Autonomous Administration for Nuclear Activities make us believe that something is rotten with the nuclear reactors in Cernavodă: either the emanated tritium concentration is much higher than it should be, thus jeopardizing the environment, or we already have a large surplus of heavy water, in which case it is not justified to continue production until 2017...

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Nuclear Power: Curse or Opportunity?

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Balkan states are gambling on the nuclear option as the best way to reduce the energy shortage but whether the risks pay off remains to be seen.

The three guards stand at the gate in the 40°C afternoon heat, ignoring the bustle around them. Grim-looking barbed wire coils round the top of the tall fence, as if designed to stop convicts escaping from prison.

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RWE Power, Partners Give Go-Ahead for Investment in Romanian Nuclear

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

RWE Power, Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica and five other partners have given the provisional go-ahead for an investment contract towards the creation of a joint venture company in Romania.

The contract will be signed by the participating companies upon approval by the Romanian government. The contract seeks to construct Unit-3 and Unit-4 of the Cernavoda nuclear power station in Romania, using the Canadian CANDU reactor technology.

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Romania to sign nuclear power deal

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

SOFIA, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Romania is due to sign a deal with selected foreign bidders to build two more reactors at its nuclear power plant in Cernavoda on Nov. 20, one of the investors, GDF Suez, said on Tuesday. Earlier this year, the Balkan country decided to retain a 51 percent stake in the planned reactors and leave the remaining 49 percent for the six bidders it chose last year as partners.

The partners are Belgian Electrabel, owned by French power giant GDF Suez, German power giant RWE, Czech utility CEZ, Italy's Enel, Spain's Iberdrola and a Romanian unit of steel giant ArcelorMittal.

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Nuclearelectrica: Demand of nuclear energy could fall because of financial crisis

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The international financial crisis, whose impact is felt in Romania, could trigger a rise in the costs with the manpower, and a fall in the demand of nuclear energy, said, on November 12, general manager of Nuclearelectrica Teodor Chirica, at a forum on “Energy in Central and Eastern Europe.”

“The international financial crisis will affect, somehow, the field of nuclear energy. So, the costs with the manpower will increase, and the demand of energy will decline,” said Chirica.

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U.S. and Romania agree to equip border crossings to help prevent nuclear smugglins

Monday, September 15, 2008

WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Romanian Frontier Police (FP) today announced an agreement to coordinate efforts to prevent nuclear smuggling by installing radiation detection equipment at multiple border crossings in Romania. The agreement signed today provides the framework for the two countries to work together to detect illicit shipments of nuclear and other radioactive material.

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Romania to spend over 2 bln dollars for geological nuclear waste repository

Saturday, September 6, 2008

The geological nuclear waste repository due for completion in 2055 will cost Romania over two billion dollars, president of the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (ANDRAD) Gheorghe Ionita stated on Aug. 28.

No country has yet such a deep geological repository and the first might be constructed in the US by 2020, probably at the same time with similar facilities in Sweden and Finland.

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The time bomb

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Since the end of the cold war, the United Nations has logged more than 800 incidents in which radioactive material has gone missing, often from poorly guarded sites. Who is taking it - and should we be worried? Julian Borger investigates.

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Romanian police ‘escorts’ Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Bucharest. The comments on the low control over the transportation of Bulgarian nuclear fuel along the Danube River is among the headlines in the Romanian press today.

The Gandul daily notes that every year the Bulgarian ship Vasil Drumev and the boat Nautilus transport 60 tons of nuclear fuel from Kozloduy to the Ukrainian port of Ismail. The nuclear fuel used in Kozloduy is transported as waste to the Ukrainian port, from where the ship turns back loaded with fresh fuel.
According to the article the ‘tourist’ boats, used by the Romanian police to escort the cargo, often malfunction.

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Cernavoda nuclear plant development may be delayed

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

CEZ Romania expects the construction of the third and fourth reactors at the Cernavoda nuclear plant to be delayed about one year. On the other hand, CEZ bought in Eastern Romania a wind energy project evaluated at 100 million euro.

"We haven't been invited until now to continue the negotiations for the construction of the two Cernavoda rectors", said the CEZ Development Manager, Doru Voicu, who added that the company also waits for a response from Termoelectrica, in order to establish a partnership and build two thermal plants.

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