PM and Energy Minister Visit Cernavodă Nuclear Plant After Unit 1 Restart

Prime Minister Luca Niculescu and Energy Minister Dumitru Chisăliță are visiting the Cernavodă nuclear power plant on Saturday, one day after Unit 1 was reconnected to Romania's national electricity grid following a shutdown of more than three months.

The visit is scheduled for 10:00, with press statements expected afterwards. Unit 1 was resynchronised to the grid on Friday afternoon, according to a current report issued by Nuclearelectrica, the state-owned operator of the plant. The company said the start-up procedures were carried out in strict compliance with safety rules and had no impact on nuclear security, staff or the public. The announcement was made in a document submitted to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, in line with a report issued on 4 November which outlined the planned start-up manoeuvres.

On Saturday morning at 06:30, data from Transelectrica showed that Cernavodă was supplying 272 MW, or 5.53% of total electricity production in Romania.

Unit 1 had been shut down in a controlled manner on 28 July 2026, and Unit 2 was gradually disconnected on 13 August 2026, leading to a complete halt of the plant. The shutdown was caused by the low level of the Danube, which could not provide enough cooling water for the reactors.

Energy Minister Dumitru Chisăliță said last week that no official calculation had been made of the losses caused by the disconnection, but stressed that the impact was felt across the whole country due to the cost of imported electricity. During the shutdown, Romania had to rely on electricity imports at higher prices.