During the Prime Minister Ludovic Orban’s Romanian delegation visit to Paris, an agreement was signed between the companies Nuclearelectrica and Orano, through which the French will process uranium at the Feldioara plant, according to focus-energetic.ro.

The Feldioara platform was designed and built as a result of the need to process uranium ore in the country, in accordance with the national nuclear program from 1970-1980. Through the activity of the two plants, Romania is the only country in Europe that currently produces nuclear fuel for CANDU (Canadian technology) nuclear power plants. The plants are part of the National Uranium Company (CNU) which, due to financial problems, is now insolvent.

For several years, Societatea Națională Nuclearelectrica (SNN), the operator of the Cernavoda nuclear power plant, wanted to take over the plant in Feldioara, in order to secure its nuclear fuel. In fact, last summer it sent a non-binding offer in this regard to the majority shareholder, the Ministry of Economy, Energy and Business Environment, which is also the sole shareholder of CNU. It now wants a technical, legal, financial and environmental due diligence analysis in order to facilitate a possible take over of the uranium concentrate processing line from the Feldioara branch.

In January 2018, Areva changed its name to Orano, which is currently one of the largest producers of nuclear fuel in the world.