“A well done and well thought out strategy is required, and here the role of the Cernavoda NPP in the energy sector must be extremely, extremely important,” the Romanian President Klaus Johannis during a visit to the NPP at Cernavoda.
The head of state met with the employees of the power plant and mentioned the 20 years of operation that will soon be celebrated at Nuclearelectrica “We will celebrate, if I remember well, on December 2nd, the 20th anniversary from the commissioning of the first unit.
It was an extremely, extremely important moment not only for the Romanian energy industry […] and things have evolved very, very well. In 2007 the second unit was commissioned, and Romania, nowadays, is proud that you are in top five in the world in terms of the level of safety and reliability,” said President Johannis.
“The energy market worldwide is in a slightly curious situation. Energy prices are falling. The offer is quite high and this has two consequences, a good one and another one that is troublesome for the industry. The good effect is for the consumer. The energy is becoming increasingly cheaper. But this can not go on for ever, because, if the price falls too low, then there are no money for investment, and the industry cannot continue. And this is the case with you [Nuclearelectrica], where specific investment are not at all a luxury, but they are investment that ensure a long operating cycle and provides specific safety”, explained Klaus Johannis.
Diversification of services from Nuclearelectrica
The Head of State also mentioned a possible extension of the company’s range of scope in the electricity supply market: “I was informed on a development plan for the future and, perhaps not coincidentally, this comes exactly in a direction that I believe it would be good for development, namely a diversification of services, a diversification which you have thought as a set of services for the general public, for example energy supply,” said Klaus Johannis.
The Head of State also mentioned the ongoing negotiations for starting workings on reactors 3 and 4 at Cernavoda: “At the moment, you provide almost 20% of the electricity consumption in Romania. I think it would be great to advance in the 30% area and that would be a pretty well defined target. We can advance to something which is more important than energy independence, and this is energy security, “said Johannis, who noted that “the Supreme Council of National Defence discussed this matter and we have decided that investment for the units 3 and 4 is a strategic investment for Romania”.