White&Case provides legal advisory to EnergoNuclear

“The contract was concluded few days ago, effective immediately and will span 10 months, until September 2010 when the pre-project phase begins. EnergoNuclear decided to award the contract to White&Case due to its international expertise, under the provisions of the regulations in force”, said Dan Ionescu.

He also added that contract had a narrow object from what was initially stipulated in the tender. Dan Ionescu said that, although the legal adviser had been selected later than planned, the company was on track to meet the construction deadlines for the reactors at Cernavoda power plant, and that the “project didn’t face any delay”.

Nuclearelectrica and the six investors, ArcelorMittal, CEZ, GdF-Suez, Enel, Iberdrola and RWE Power signed on November 20, 2008 the Investment Agreement for the set up of a project company (to be called SC EnergoNuclear S.A) that will be in charge of the construction, commissioning and operation of Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant’s units 3 and 4. Following the negotiations, it has been decided that the shareholding of the project company will be as follows: Nuclearelectrica – 51%, CEZ – 9.15%, GdF Suez – 9.15%, Enel – 9.15% RWE Power – 9.15% and Iberdrola and ArcelorMittal 6.2% each.

Units 3 and 4 will start operations later than 2016.

The estimated cost for the two reactors is €4 billion, and each unit will have an installed power of 720MW. The lifespan of a unit is 30 years, with the possibility of extending it to forty years. Units 3 and 4 from CNE Cernavoda will use CANDU 6 technology.