February 25 (SeeNews) - Nuclearelectrica, the operator of Romania's sole nuclear power plant (NPP) Cernavoda, said on Thursday that its net profit rose 27.8% on the year to 684.7 million lei ($171 million/140 million euro) in 2020.
Operating profit increased by 21.8% year-on-year to 766.4 million lei as of end-2020, as operating expensed were 3.5% lower at 1.18 billion lei, Nuclearelectrica said in an interim financial statement filed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB.
Nuclearelectrica generated about 10.558 million MWh of electricity in 2020, up 2% on the year. Electricity sales contributed 2.5 billion lei in revenue, up 2.8% year-on-year.
The Cernavoda plant, located in southeastern Romania, has two reactors of 700 megawatts each, which meet roughly a fifth of the country's electricity needs.
On Wednesday, Nuclearelectrica's CEO Cosmin Ghita said that the company aims to commission a third reactor by 2031. According to Ghita, a fourth reactor is also planned, and the latest company estimations indicate a final cost of 7 billion euro ($8.51 billion) for the two new units.
In October, Romanian and US authorities signed cooperation and financing agreements for an $8 billion project for the modernisation of Unit 1 at Cernavoda NPP and the construction of Units 3 and 4.
Nuclearelectrica shares traded 2.59% higher at 22.65 lei by 1020 CET on Thursday on the BVB.
(1 euro =4.8743 Romanian lei)