Reactors 3 and 4 will cost twice the estimated price

The construction of reactors 3 and 4 at the nuclear power plant in Cernavoda, Southeast of Romania, will cost twice as much as initially estimated, due to increases experienced by all major investments in the energy sector. Instead of the 2.2 billion euros that investors were supposed to allocate for the most ambitious energy project of the last few years, investors now have to pay twice as much, according to Government representatives. The reasons are the rise in the price of steel, equipment, and labour costs. This is not the only major alteration the project has experienced. The state increased its stake in the project at the beginning of the week from 20% to 51%, an increase approved by the government, due to be published in the Official Gazette. The Romanian state now has to come up with over 2 billion euros in order to sustain its stake. CEZ (the Czech Republic), RWE (Germany), Electrabel (Belgium), Enel (Italy), Iberdrola (Spain) and ArcelorMittal (Romania), the six investors which, along with state-controlled Nuclearelectrica, have negotiated their stake, do not wish to give it up for now, and are preparing for a new round of talks, which could take as long as four months. “The new value of the project amounts to around four billion euros and has been decided based on the trend of prices for all sizeable industrial projects. We have held talks with the energy divisions of the largest European banks, and learned that the cost of investments in the energy sector has gone up by 20% to 100%(…),” said Teodor Chirica, general manager of Nuclearelectrica.