Cernavodă’s Nuclear Reactor 1 will have to undergo an environmental impact assessment if it wants to extend its operational life, in accordance with the recent decision of the Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention, says Terra Millennium III, an NGO. The reactor went into operation in 1996 and will work with the current license not more than 2026.

Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention decided that all nuclear power plants in Europe that exceed their life, and want to renew their licenses of 10 years, need to undergo such an assessment. The decision comes amid extending the life of nuclear reactors 1 and 2 of Rivne nuclear plant in Ukraine, writes Mediafax. In Europe, in the coming years, 60 nuclear reactors with lifetime exceeded, will be analyzed in terms of transboundary environmental impact.

“The environmental impact is one of the aspects that make nuclear power an unsustainable energy solution. On the other hand, the hidden costs of decommissioning reactors and waste disposal are huge. Before we think of extending the life of existing reactors and building new ones, we should consider truly sustainable solutions, such as energy efficiency and renewable energy”, says the president of Terra Millenium III.

Unit 1 entered into a planned shutdown on May 9 for maintenance, conducted once every two years for each unit. On June 8, the reactor was reconnected to the national energy system, informs Nuclearelectrica.

The convention governing environmental impact assessment where a project has cross-border impact of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe was signed in 1991, in Espoo, Finland, and entered into force in 1997. Romania became part of the Espoo Convention in March 2001.