The visit of the Romanian President Klaus Johannis, at the NPP in Cernavoda and his speech was followed by a press release from ROMATOM, an association formed in 2001, which currently comprises over 30 members acting together for supporting the national nuclear program.

Representatives of the nuclear industry in Romania appreciate the positive signals sent by President Johannis regarding the activity in the nuclear sector. The meeting with the employees of the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda comes several months after the approval of the report regarding Units 3 and 4 of the Cernavoda NPP during the meeting of the Supreme Defence Council. “We consider these steps are encouraging for the future of the nuclear industry in Romania, which is one of the top industries, both nationally and internationally,” says ROMATOM.

The role of nuclear energy in the energy mix

The plant in Cernavoda is a major part of the critical infrastructure, providing clean and affordable energy and energy security, stressed out ROMATOM. The recent presidential statements support this idea: “It is an advantage of utmost importance that Romania has a complete nuclear cycle. This advantage is significant and should be preserved. We are seeing lately some unsatisfactory developments and I am not speaking about the unit where we are now, but about the related industries, where things seem to have gone into obscurity; and certainly there is a need for extra attention from the government for the entire cycle.

We are, Romania is almost independent from energy perspective. At EU level, we stand in the third place on this indicator of energy independence. But such things are not coming by default. 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,” said the president in front of the CNE Nuclearelectrica employees.

The role of nuclear power in energy security

The project of expanding nuclear energy production capacities is beneficial for Romania, for reaching a share of 30-32% for nuclear energy in the national energy mix, after the commissioning of the two new nuclear units. ROMATOM quotes from the speech of President Johannis: “I think it would be great to advance in the 30% area and that would be a pretty well defined target”. The project, along with other investments in the national energy sector will contribute to enhancing sustainability, competitiveness and energy security at European and national level, in line with the European Commission document COM (2015) 80 final, entitled “A framework strategy for a resilient energy union, with a prospective policy in the climate change field”, issue on February 25th, 2015, in order to provide the consumers access to affordable and competitive energy.

The energy market failure

Because of the rapidly decreasing prices, the market cannot support investments, and this moght have dramatic effects on future energy security and on the objective of reducing the carbon emissions. President Klaus Johannis stated, with explicit reference to this issue: “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.

The state’s role in facilitating investments

From the perspective of ROMATOM,” the presence of President Klaus Johannis at Cernavoda should spur the negotiations for units 3 and 4, an investment which, in addition to the economic benefits provided, will also bring a much awaited long term perspective for those who work here, just like, in the past, the unit 2 has brought both in the operation and in the construction of the plant”. Investing in new reactors comes with beneficial effects on the labor market, the head of state noted: “Studies show that about 16.000 additional jobs are created in the related industries and here [at Nuclearelectrica].”

Developing human resource and the drainage of skilled work force

The speech of the president also included a reference to the difficulties that energy companies have in developing and maintaining high qualified labour force: “Apart from the fact that most of you are super or hiperqualified, which is good, we must take into account a factor which is crucial to the future of this sector. We have to find ways to keep people here. That’s certainly means, a course, a clear career plan, but it also means decent wages,” the president said.

Klaus Johannis considers that the inappropriate incomes the energy specialists have comes also from the persistent phenomenon of “the smart guys in energy”: “We have lived, unfortunately, quite many years when you and others have worked, you became better and better, you did your jobs, and the so-called smart guys have been picking up the results,” the president afirmed. “I think it is time to end with such approaches. I believe that intelligent people should gather the benefits for themselves and I am talking about yourselves and your colleagues who work in this industry, an industry where a very, very good specialization is needed, and that is what you possess. And you deserve to be well rewarded for it,” said Johannis.

The role of the horizontal local industry (supply chain)

According to ROMATOM, “it should be noted that the visit of the President comes near the moment when 20 years from the commercial commissioning of Unit 1 will be celebrated,on December 2nd, this year. “Romanian nuclear industry contributing in the completion of units 3 and 4 of Cernavoda means, firstly, to capitalize on the investments already made in the past, the equippments and the production and assembly facilities for equipments and components for the CANDU 6 nuclear units”, explains the association.

Photo source: telegrafonline.ro