In less than a decade, Romania is expected to invest more over 10 billion euros for giving its nuclear industry a strong restart and another 30 years of existence. Far from trivial, the refurbished unit 1 in Cernavodă, with its 700 MW, and new 1.842 MW capacities (one SMR unit plus 2 more units in Cernavodă) of carbon-free power generation are only a part of the full image. Just as important, from economic and security perspectives, is having a strong nuclear value chain located in Romania. Now is the moment to act for this objective, agreed some of the biggest technology providers with the occasion of the “Energy forum”, organized recently by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Romania, with the support of the Romanian Energy Center Association and Energynomics.
Target – a strong local supply chain
Daniel Predescu, the president of Romatom, talked about the common efforts of the association and Nuclearelectrica (SNN) to identify local companies from industries of manufacturing and services which to be able to become supplier for such major national projects and create a strong supply chain. In this respect, “the Italian companies which operate in Romania are on the top of the list because they are able to supply main and auxiliary equipment for nuclear plants, for raw materials in the wide range of industrial services at a high level of complexity and quality”, Daniel Predescu said. The Romanian Atomic Forum – ROMATOM is the association that brings together almost 60 companies that produce electricity and heat through nuclear processes or are suppliers of goods and services in the Romanian nuclear industry.
Some of the biggest companies in the world announced already their manufacturing capacity for nuclear equipment is booked for 10 years forward, Daniel Predescu also mentioned, opening the discussion to the potential risks of having the Romanian nuclear projects delayed because of some bottlenecks in the supply chain.
Localization is key
“Should we be worried? No, I don’t think so!”, said Giovanbattista Patalano, Senior Vice-President, Nuclear Markets & Sales of Ansaldo Nucleare. “Should we hurry up? Yes”, he continued. Not because of any stalling or delays, but simply because “nuclear is a major industrial endeavor, so, yes, we can’t waste time. I don’t think we are wasting time and there’s a very good collaboration with SNN”, he said. This March, Italy’s Ansaldo Nucleare has signed a contract with Canada’s SNC-Lavalin for the supply of engineering services for plant life extension of unit 1 at Romania’s Cernavodă nuclear power plant. „We are now negotiating the contract for the full EPC of the lifetime extension. That is something that will happen over the next few months, and the objective is to be in contract certainly before summer next year”, said . He added that “there will be a major endeavor of finding the equipment suppliers for the different parts of the projects, as we are talking about multi-billion contracts”.
Ansaldo Nucleare continues to provide design and maintenance services to the two Cernavodă Units, and is preparing to participate to the realization of Unit 3 and 4. “Ansaldo is going to play a role in the Consortium for the construction and put into operation the Units 3 and 4”, he said. The Italian company is the owner of the Balance of Plant (BOP) designs of Unit 2 in Cernavodă, one of the top performing plants in terms of availability around the world, and Units 3 and 4 will be designed and built based on Unit 2.
“When it comes to nuclear industry, we tend to localize up to 50% of our activities in the country where we operate”, said Giovanbattista Patalano. “The localization is key in all the projects we’ve done. It happened during the realization of Units 1 and 2 and it will continue for the future projects of the same plant, I think there is a privileged bridge between Romania and Italy”, he continued. “That is to think of it rather globally, than just like a bilateral project. I think this can become a hub for developing and supporting other countries when it comes to developing nuclear, with centers of excellence depending on different types of products or different types of services”, Giovanbattista Patalano explained.
More than the vision of an entrepreneur
There is an ongoing discussion on the Walter Tosto WTB involvement in the construction of the Cernavodă 3 and 4 reactors, admitted Giacomo Fossataro, General Manager of Walter Tosto. “But the investment is in decision phase, a lot of technical points still need to be defined. So it is a little bit too early to see possible market for pressure vessels”, he said.
At the same time, he insisted that the current phase is a very critical one, because “it is now that the environment of the future decision is defined”. “It is now that Romania, the Romanian authorities and Nuclearelectrica have to fix some limit and to support the potential of domestic added value, which is domestic fabrication.”
There is a domestic fabrication capacity, Giacomo Fossataro said, and this should be included in the vendor list so that the Romanian supply chain become part of these projects. Headquartered in Bucharest, Walter Tosto WTB is recognized as one of the biggest manufacturers in Europe and leading worldwide supplier of critical and long lead process equipment. Since 2012 Walter Tosto WTB, former Fecne Nuclear Components SA, belongs to the Italian Tosto Group.
In the ‘80s, Fecne was mainly involved in the manufacturing of critical items such as calandria (reactor vessel), steam generators, pressurizer, D2O vapour recovery system, fuel channel bars, heat hexchangers and service vessel, air lock channel, steam surface condenser, HP and LP feed water heater for Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plants in Romania, as well as Candu 6 in Canada. “Such components are now Fecne’s legacy to Walter Tosto WTB that is now in operation for several nuclear components for Hickley Point, the nuclear power plant in the UK. We see this as a starting point to support the Romanian nuclear project in order to have for the Cernavodă 3 and 4 a significant national added value, a significant contribution of the domestic production”, said Giacomo Fossataro.
Walter Tosto WTB’s infrastructure was completely renewed with energy efficient improvements in 2014, and in 2019, a new workshop in the port of Oltenița was built, directly connected with the Danube river to facilitate the sea-river transport. The same year, Walter Tosto WTB acquired the branch of the historical brand GRIRO S.A., a company with a tradition of over 120 years of experience in the process equipment manufacturing. This acquisition was an added value for the Tosto Group, favoring know-how transfer and the further expansion of its industrial perimeter.
The national supply is a strategic part of the fabrication and the execution of a nuclear power plant, as it is “a booster for the economy and for the technology development”. This need to be developed since the very beginning, since the investment stage in the negotiation with the regulatory authorities, and with the licensing company, explained Giacomo Fossataro. “Now is the proper time to create the right environment that will support the Romanian industry. We as a company working both on Oil&Gas and in nuclear, we know that nuclear has a completely different approach. A manufacturer needs to anticipate huge investment, both in terms of selecting the personnel, the training of people, the building up the procedures, and there are specific components that are needed. This is something that takes years and needs specific investment. Such huge investments need to be to anticipated for many years. This cannot be limited to the vision of an entrepreneur, but it should be also part of a national strategy for using this investment for the construction of the two reactors so that to support and boost the industrial sector of Romania.”
Support schemes for large investments
The Romanian Ministry of Energy is interested in supporting production of goods and manufacture of equipment in Romania, highlighted State Secretary Dan Drăgan.
What is important for nuclear technology is to have all the approvals and certifications in place, he added, and to have access to qualified workforce. Also, very important is the price of electricity for the manufacturers in Romania and “the possibility to be more productive by using electricity at competitive prices on the market”. The Ministry of Energy evaluates whether projects for energy efficiency in industrial units could be financed through a new call of projects. There are also other support schemes that are provided for large investments, for example from the Ministry of Finance. “We have noticed some decisions for investments, and there are already some facilities under construction. I also noticed a very strong increasing interest to develop new industrial facilities in Romania”, Dan Drăgan said.