July 24 (SeeNews) - Nuclearelectrica [BSE:SNN], the operator of Romania's sole nuclear power plant Cernavoda, said on Monday that the plant's Unit 2 was reconnected to the grid on Sunday morning after disconnecting two times in as many days.
"Cernavoda NPP Unit 2 automatically disconnected from the grid following the occurrence of a soft related transient in the classical part of the power plant on July 22, 2017. Currently, Cernavoda NPP operates at nominal power," Nuclearelectrica in a filing to the Bucharest Stock Exchange
On Friday, Unit 2 automatically disconnected from the grid due to an unidentified problem in the classical, or electrical, part of the plant, but was reconnected towards the end of the day. On Saturday, the unit disconnected again due to the reoccurrence of the same event.
Nucleatelectrica said that the occurrence of certain malfunctions in the classical part of the power plant and the related remediation works have no impact on the nuclear safety of the reactor, operation personnel, population and environment. Nucleatelectrica ensured.
A transient is the generic name of an event that causes a power plant to proceed from a normal state of operation to abnormal functioning.
Nuclearelectrica's first-quarter net profit rose 26% on the year to 84 million lei ($20.1 million/18.5 million euro) due to lower expenses.
In 2017, the company plans to invest 231.5 million lei, of which more than 196 million lei will be used for upgrade works at Cernavoda NPP
The Cernavoda plant, located in southeastern Romania, has two reactors of 700 megawatts each, which cover roughly a fifth of the country's power needs.
In February, Romania's energy ministry said that it intends to speed up negotiations with China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) on the construction of reactors 3 and 4 at Cernavoda. The negotiations with CGN were already extended three times in 2016.
In December 2015, Nuclearelectrica said it expects to set up a joint venture with CGN in 2016 and begin the construction of a pair of new units at the power plant, a project estimated to cost 6 billion euro ($6.5 billion) at the time, in two to three years. Under the memorandum of understanding on the project, the Chinese investor will hold a stake of at least 51% in the joint venture company that will do the job, while Nuclearelectrica will own at least 30%.
Nuclearelectrica shares were traded 1.01% lower at 6.88 lei by 1006 CET on the Bucharest bourse. The energy ministry holds a 82.4% stake in the company.
(1 euro =4.5737 Romanian lei)