Cosmin Ghita, CEO of Nuclearelectrica, said “the involvement of renowned international banking institutions in securing external financing for the CNE Cernavoda Unit 1 Refurbishment Project represents a historic step for the development of the civil nuclear energy sector”.
The European Investment Bank and nuclear
The European Investment Bank is owned by the 27 European Union member states, who are split in their opinions on nuclear energy. The bank has not been investing in new nuclear projects, but has issued some loans for modernisation and safety-related projects. It says it “adopts a technology-neutral approach in line with the European Union’s decarbonisation goal and the objectives of ensuring security of energy supply and competitiveness in an environmentally sustainable, cost-efficient, effective, safe and socially acceptable way”.
The funding for the Romanian project was part of a EUR3.7 billion package of measures, including new electricity networks in Belgium and Spain, wind farms in Germany and solar generation in France, approved by directors of the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund this week.
In total in 2025, the European Investment Bank agreed EUR100 billion in new financing and advisory services for 870 projects “under eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investments union”.
The Cernavoda project
The Cernavoda plant consists of two operating 650 MWe Candu-6 reactors. Unit 1 entered commercial operation in 1996 and unit 2 in 2007. Nuclearelectrica plans to extend the operating life of unit 1 to 60 years. The unit 1 refurbishment project began in 2017 and is currently in the second of three phases. The third phase, scheduled for 2027 to 2029, starts with the shutdown of unit 1 and includes all the work required on it, and its recommissioning. There are also two unfinished reactors at the plant – most of the work on units 3 and 4 was done in the 1980s before being halted. It was reported in 2021 that unit 3 was 52% complete and unit 4 30% complete and there is a separate project focused on completing them.
Cernavoda 1 currently supplies nearly 10% of the country’s electricity. Nuclearelectrica, the owner and operator of the Cernavoda plant, is majority-owned by the Romanian State and is the only nuclear power operator in the country.
The estimated nominal value of the project is EUR3.2 billion (USD3.8 billion). According to financing details submitted to the European Commission for approval, Romania plans to support the refurbishment of the nuclear unit through four measures: a grant of EUR600 million; state guarantees for loans taken to finance the investment; a two-way contract for difference (CfD) running for 30 years to provide stable revenues to the plant; and a protection mechanism for regulatory changes during construction and operation.
In December 2024, the company signed the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the refurbishment with a consortium of Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, AtkinsRéalis’s Candu Energy, Canadian Commercial Corporation and Ansaldo Nucleare. In September last year, Nuclearelectrica signed a EUR540 million financing contract with a banking syndicate led by JP Morgan for the refurbishment. Under a contract signed in October last year, France’s Arabelle Solutions will provide equipment and services for the refurbishment of Cernavoda 1’s turbine-generator, as part of the 30-year life extension project.
Candu units are pressurised heavy water reactors designed to operate for 30 years, with a further 30 years available subject to refurbishment. This includes the replacement of key reactor components such as steam generators, pressure tubes, calandria tubes and feeder tubes. It involves removing all the reactor’s fuel and heavy water and isolating it from the rest of the power station before it is dismantled. Thousands of components, including those that are not accessible when the reactor is assembled, are inspected, and all 480 fuel channels and 960 feeder tubes are replaced during the high-precision rebuild.
Ghita said the project would fit with European Union priorities relating to environmental and energy security policy and “the refurbished Unit 1 will account for an additional 9% per year of Romania’s clean, safe, and stable energy supply for the period 2030–2060”.
