Romanian state-owned electricity producer Nuclearelectrica, which owns 60.15 percent of Energo Nuclear, the company that will build new nukes for the Cernavoda nuclear plant, could take over the shares of RWE, Ibedrola and GDF Suez or develop the project on its own.

RWE, Ibedrola and GDF Suez have announced their plan to withdraw from the Cernavoda nukes 3 and 4 project, after CEZ had already done so at the end of last year. Enel and Arcelor Mittal are the remaining private investors in the project. They haven't announced their withdrawal, but did not increase their stake by taking over shares from the other private investors. The share packages of the private investors which decided to withdraw from the project are up for sale until February 28.

Nuclearelectrica could either take over the share packages from the three companies or just dissolve the EnergoNuclear company and develop the nuke project on its own, according to a decision project published by the Economy Ministry in Romania.

The initial shareholders lineup for this nuke expansion project was Nuclearelectrica with 51 percent of the company, while CEZ, GdF Suez and Enel, 9.15 percent each, and ArcelorMittal and Iberdrola, 6.2 percent each. The estimated investment in the nuke project is of EUR 4 billion. Each of the new units will have an installed power of 720 MW.

editor@romania-insider.com