Officials from the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) took part in the ground-breaking ceremony for a tritium removal facility at Romania’s Cernavoda NPP. The event was attended by KHNP President Whang Joo-ho; Im Gap-su, South Korean Ambassador to Romania; Cosmin Ghita, President of Romanian nuclear utility Societatea Națională Nuclearelectrica (SNN – the client); the heads of Romanian regulatory agencies; and over 50 key officials.
KHNP won the KRW260bn ($188m) project in June 2023, based on its experience with the Wolsong Tritium Removal Facility and established a construction office in Cernavodă in March this year to oversee the project. Regulatory approvals were received in May and construction is scheduled to be completed by September 2027. The tritium removal facility is designed to capture radioactive substances generated during the operation of heavy water reactors. “We aim to work closely with the Romanian government, the client and other partners for successful construction,” KHNP CEO Whang Joo-ho said in a statement. The project marks KHNP’s first engineering, procurement & construction project in Europe.
