Romanian nuclear plant reports record-high production

Romania's only nuclear plant, at Cernavodă announced yesterday that the amount of electrical energy produced at the plant in 2004 was the highest ever, at a record 5,142,300 megawatt-hours (MWh). This exceeded the previous 2002 record by 36,000 MWh.

Cernavodă Unit 1, brought into operation in 1992, supplies around 10-12% of Romania's energy consumption. According to Nuclearelectrica, the operator of the plant, Cernavodă's performance has been better than the average of the world's 417 reactors. Nuclearelectrica considers the security of the plant, as well as of its employees and the environment, to be of utmost importance.

Currently, two more nuclear units are in construction at the Cernavodă plant. Unit 2 is 80% complete and will commence operation in 2006, while Unit 3 is approximately 40% complete. In the future, the nuclear plant is expected to produce a significant amount of the electrical energy of southeastern Europe.

Cernavodă is Europe's only CANDU reactor. CANDU reactors, which are designed in Canada, are one of the most advantageous forms of nuclear reactors due to their fuel efficiency and low amount of down-time.