Romania is one step closer to having Cernovoda’s CANDU plant pumping out power as the country’s second plant achieved criticality on Sunday, May 6.

This means that Romania’s Unit 2 plant sustained a fission reaction for the first time. Achieving this milestone has met several difficulties along the way, explains Cernovoda 2 Project Director, Larry Powers. Construction of Unit 2 began in 1981 and continued with procurement of materials, civil works and installation of major equipment until 1990. After the 1989 revolution, the focus shifted to the completion of Unit 1 – a decision that proved to be a good one since Unit 1 successfully began commercial operation in 1996. During this time, work on Unit 2 consisted only of the preservation of existing installations – no physical progress occurred during this time.

In March 2003, a formal completion contract came into effect that struck a partnership between AECL and Italian company, Ansaldo Nucleare, said Larry.

“Together we worked with owner Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica (SNN) and began the daunting task of completing the work that started more than two decades earlier,” he said. “Restarting a project after such a long period of inactivity posed many challenges not encountered on a green field, new build construction project.” All partners agreed to complete the construction and commissioning of the nuclear power plant within 51 months. The budget included the engineering, procurement, construction, equipment refurbishment and commissioning of Unit 2.

Last minute problems with steam generators and primary heat transport feeder orifices (reactor) were identified and corrected. Unfortunately, this snag could only be discovered during the commissioning activities, and was fixed without compromising the future safe operation of the reactor. Facing such challenges, AECL, Ansaldo and the client SNN, managed the project with professionalism.

“I am convinced that the completion of Cernavoda Unit 2 this summer will stand out as an even bigger success because of the unusual and difficult challenges associated with this restart project,” said Larry, who praised the Management Team which at peak consisted of 140 AECL, 100 Ansaldo and 1,800 Romanians for their high performance and tremendous accomplishment.

The completion of this phase is close to the scheduled plan. “Now that criticality has been achieved, we can look ahead to the final two major events – first synchronization to the Romanian grid in July 2007 and finally, achieving 100 per cent power and putting the plant in service in August 2007,” said Larry. The next stage will slowly increase power from two to 25 per cent. At that point, the reactor is hooked up to the grid and continues to increase until it ultimately reaches 100 per cent power.

“Completion of this demanding project will be achieved without compromising quality. We expect that Cernavoda’s Unit 2 will perform to the same high standards as Unit 1 has in its ten years of operation,” said Larry, adding that it will significantly reduce greenhouse gasses by producing clean and environmentally friendly power to Romania.