Romania’s energy strategy
Romania plans to achieve energy independence and no longer count on imports, Romanian PM Sorin Grindeanu has said.
Mihai Pelin, 25.05.2017, 13:53
Romania plans to become independent in terms of energy, says the country’s Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu, who has announced that the Government will start investing in Units 3 and 4 of the nuclear power plants in Cernavoda, in the southeast.
Attending an international conference on sustainable development through research and education, held in the southern town of Pitesti, Grindeanu hailed the participation of the representatives of the National Nuclear Institute in Mioveni in the international project of storage and disposal of radioactive waste, which clearly mirrors Romania’s potential to reach the highest standards in the field, alongside countries such as France, Belgium, the US, Italy and Canada.
Against this background, PM Grindeanu also mentioned the invitation that the Romanian authorities received from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for the country to join the Nuclear Energy Agency. In his opinion, this invite stands proof of the fact that Romania meets the standards set by the states with advanced nuclear programmes and that the Nuclear Institute in Mioveni plays a very important role in this respect.
Sorin Grindeanu reiterated the Government’s support for the Romanian research in the field of civil nuclear technology development as the findings can be applied to strategic sectors such as energy, medicine and agriculture. The Romanian Research Minister Serban Valeca also attended the conference in Pitesti where he announced the setting up of a national consortium for the development of the lead-cooled fast reactor, known as ALFRED.
Serban Valeca: “The Consortium’s representatives signed a second accord with ROMATOM, the association of nuclear industry, that has been supporting reactors 1 and 2 and that also supports reactors 3 and 4. So the Romanian industry providing quality services and products wants to be part of this partnership and provide equipment for this 4th generation rector.”
Romania’s energy security involves curbing the dependence on one supplier alone, that is the Russian giant Gazprom, by capitalizing on the local resources. Romania stands well in this respect, being the third EU country in terms of energy dependency, after Estonia and Denmark, with imports accounting for only 17.1%.
Countries such as Malta and Cyprus cover their energy needs exclusively from imports, while the EU average stands at 54%. And, since Romania has recently discovered on its territory the largest natural gas deposits in the last 30 years, estimated at over 4 billion dollars, the country’s energy independence is guaranteed, at lest for the next few years.
