Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant produced 6.4 million megawatts per hour (MWh) in the first seven months of this year, and 5.9 million MWh were delivered to the country's electricity grid.

Unit 1 of the Cernavoda power plant produced 2.8 million MWh, and unit 2, 3.5 million MWh. The two units produced some 114.9 million MWh up until April 2012.

In the first eight months of 2011, the Cernavoda power plant produced produced around 7.7 million MWh.

Nuclear energy covers around 18 percent of Romania's electricity needs, according to Nuclearelectrica, the company which runs the Cernavoda power plant.

Nuclearelectrica, together with private investors, will build reactors 3 and 4 for the Cernavoda power plant, aiming to generate about 30 percent of Romania’s electricity production by 2019, with a production estimated at around 11 TWh a year. Earlier in March, Romania's backup plan to build only one of the two planned reactors surfaced, in case private investors are uninterested in building both reactors.

The EUR 4 billion project for the two nuclear rectors has been on Romania's table for the last six years, with several investors initially interested, but then withdrawing: CEZ, RWE, Gaz de France and Iberdrola.

The Cernavoda site is designed for five CANDU 6 reactors. Initial construction on the site commenced in 1982, with the intention of completing all five units. Unit 1 has been in operation since December 1996 and Unit 2, since October 2007.

editor@romania-insider.com