Contracts with EDF subsidiaries relate to refurbishment and radioisotope production
Romania’s state-owned nuclear plant operator Nuclearelectrica has signed two agreements with subsidiaries of France’s EDF related to key projects at the Cernavodă nuclear power station.
The first agreement, signed with Arabelle Solutions, aims at advancing the refurbishment of Unit 1 at Cernavodă, near the town of the same name in the southeast of the country.
The second agreement, with Framatome, is focused on the development of a project to produce medical radioisotopes at Cernavodă.
Nuclearelectrica said in a statement the agreements follow its investment strategy and its objective to “place the Romanian nuclear industry at the forefront of global nuclear current and future trends”.
Arabelle Solutions will provide equipment and services for the refurbishment of the turbine generator at Cernavodă-1 as part of a refurbishment aimed at giving the plant a life extension of 30 years from 2029.
The refurbishment project is in its second phase, focusing mainly on engineering, procurement, permits, financing, planning and infrastructure construction.
In the third and final phase, Unit 1 will be disconnected from the grid in 2027 and recommissioned in 2029.
The agreement with Framatome establishes the framework under which Framatome and Nuclearelectrica will collaborate on the production of lutetium-177 (Lu-177) at Cernavodă.
The two companies also plan to develop other projects related to the production of medical radioisotopes.
Lu-177 is a radioisotope used in targeted radionuclide therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer and in multiple promising radiopharmaceutical developments for other cancers. The radioisotope destroys cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
Framatome’s proprietary radioisotope production technology enabled the first large-scale commercial production of Lu-177 in a power reactor – the Bruce-7 unit in Canada – in June 2022.
Cernavodă, which is Romania’s only commercial nuclear station, has two 650-MW Canada-designed Candu-6 plants that began commercial operation in 1996 and 2007.
Nuclearelectrica recently signed two financing agreements worth a combined €620m ($725m) with a banking syndicate led by J.P. Morgan to advance the refurbishment of the Cernavoda-1 nuclear plant and for preparatory work to build two new units at the site.
