Press release: 20 years since the establishment of SNN

2 Jul

Press release: 20 years since the establishment of SNN

  Press release

20 years since the establishment of SN Nuclearelectrica SA

 

 

Bucharest, 2 July 2018

 

Today, SN Nuclearelectrica SA (“SNN”) celebrates 20 years since the establishment of the company, following the reorganization of the former state owned company RENEL, on July 2nd 1998. SNN owns two subsidiaries: Cernavoda NPP, the operator of the nuclear power plant and FCN Pitesti, the nuclear fuel plant and starting with 2014, SNN is the sole owner of Energonuclear, the project company responsible for the Units 3 and 4 project implementation.

Cernavoda NPP unit 1 entered commercial operation in 29916 and Unit 2 in 2007.

Since the commissioning of the two nuclear units, that this during their entire operation, SNN produced and delivered to the national power grid a quantity of 168 649 752 MWh, out of which Unit 1 delivered 111 163 005 MWh to the grid and Unit 2, 57 486 747 MWh.

Also, up to present, at an average annual production of 10 TWh of both units, the release of 150 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere was avoided, based on the comparison with generation capacities with significant CO2 emissions.

In compliance with the applicable international norms and standards of the nuclear industry, as a result of the independent international evaluation missions, Cernavoda NPP is among the top 5 nuclear power plants worldwide. The determinant factors of this performance are the constant investments in nuclear safety, the extensive pro-active maintenance programs and the high specialization of the personal, SNN having some of the best experts in the nuclear industry at the global level.

FCN Nuclear Fuel Plant was authorized in 1994 by AECL (the CANDU license owner) and Zircatec Precision Industries Inc. (Canada) as CANDU 6 type nuclear fuel producer. Since authorization and up to present, FCN Pitesti developed a series of new technical processes which were implemented by other CANDU nuclear fuel producers worldwide.

Since the establishment of SNN in 1998, FCN Pitesti produced a quantity of 169 800 nuclear fuel bundles. During the lifespan of a nuclear fuel bundle inside the reactor, of one year average, it produces a quantity of 1115 MWh. The same energy can be produced by burning conventional fuels as follows: 470 000 kg of conventional fuel with a caloric output of 7000 kcal/kg or 573 971 kg of pit coal with a caloric power of 5732 kcal/kg or  405 172 Nm3 (normal cubic meters) of natural gas with a caloric power of 8120 kcal/Nm3.

Currently, SNN is the largest national developer of energy projects: the refurbishment of Cernavoda NPP Unit 1 which will allow the safe operation of the unit for another 30 years at half the cost of the investment in a new nuclear unit as well as Units 3 and 4 project which will supply energy after 2025, in the framework of the European decarbonation policies and the future availability of internal capacity, as part of the solution for ensuring the stability of the national energy system, security of supply and achievement of the environment targets at the same time.

SNN’s results as well as the planning and completion of the future projects, is due to the staff of the company, their professionalism, their commitment for performance and to the robustness of the technology used.

“At 20 years since establishment, SNN is one of the Romanian’s company with remarkable results at international level, representing at present a worldwide benchmark for professionalism and high level of nuclear safety. There are several technical factors, operational factors as well as management policies which make possible the accomplishment of such a result, as well as the daily efforts but, regardless of the area of specialization, at the basis is the expert. The specialists are the essential resource of SNN and when I say specialists, I consider at the same time the technical specialists as well as the support areas, as internal cooperation and integration is very important and the result depends on the internal coherence of these components” – Cosmin Ghita, CEO.

SNN would like to thank its employees and contractors, the authorities, equipment and service suppliers, the horizontal nuclear industry in Romania and to the external partners who have contributed to the results of the company, to the shareholders and investors and participants to the capital market, to the representatives of the mass-media for their professionalism during this period!

 

Cosmin Ghita

Director General

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