Current status and future prospective of nuclear industry in Romania

After the collapse, in 1989, of the centralized communist regimes in the Central and Eastern Europe, the Romanian economy experienced significant changes. By 2001 the industrial production decline caused a dramatic drop in the country's electricity consumption. Despite it, the power sector has to cope with many difficulties to cover the electricity demand. Under the circumstances of the economy restructuring, the problems of the Romanian power sector became acute: most of thermal power units are aged (older than 20 years), with low efficiency, low performance indicators, high costs, large staff number; the dependence on imported fossil fuel is high; the environment protection requirements - emphasized by the European institutions - not met; lack of the capital required for fixing these questions. The lack of financial sources at the thermal power plants made the purchase of fuel from import extremely complicated; also, the maintenance programs at the power plants could not be accomplished. It was very difficult to attract investment funds for rehabilitation work or for construction of new capacities in the power plants. Meanwhile, in the last three years, a gradual recovery of the Romanian industry occurred. Now, it becomes less energy intensive, but the growth of the industrial production and the increasing household electricity demand induced higher energy consumption. The development of the nuclear power sector enhances these tendencies. The entire sector is under a reorganization process, with the final purpose to increase efficiency, privatizing the electrical distribution, thermal power plants, and some hydro and support services