EPC Contracts Signed for Romania’s Cernavoda-3 and -4

State-owned Romanian nuclear company Nuclearelectrica subsidiary EnergoNuclear and a joint venture including Fluor, AtkinsRealis, Ansaldo Nucleare and Sargent & Lundy signed an engineering, procurement and construction management (EPCM) contract for the long-stalled twin 700 megawatt Candu reactors at Cernavoda in Romania, Nuclearelectrica announced Nov. 15. The first phase of the EPCM contract will last 24-30 months before a Nuclearelectrica final investment decision launches the second construction through commissioning phase, targeted for 80-84 months. This announcement was one of multiple positive developments for the nuclear industry presented at COP29 in Azerbaijan this week. Six additional countries also signed on to an aspirational declaration to triple nuclear energy by 2050, first presented at COP28 last year. Washington, a key driver behind this declaration, also presented a deployment framework targeting 200 gigawatts of net new nuclear capacity by 2050, tripling US nuclear capacity from 2020. This framework targets 35 GW of new nuclear capacity operating or under construction by 2035. “New” capacity includes new reactors, uprating existing reactors and restarting previously retired reactors.