Summary

Thi project provided technical assistance to the Beneficiary (the Romanian National Electrical Company Societatea Nationala "Nuclearelectrica"(SNN), operator of Cernavoda and initiator of the Euratom loan) in
Romania/>/> in order to achieve the following objectives:

• to provide the Beneficiary with an independent Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposed completion of Cernavoda 2 NPP, according to standards and practices as applied in the EU and including a concise review of the off-site emergency response provisions;
• to provide the Beneficiary with an independent assessment of the applied standards and practices relevant to the protection of the nuclear power station's staff, with particular reference to radiological protection provisions at Cernavoda 2.
• 
  />to provide the Beneficiary with a review of the off-site emergency response provisions

It was not the intention of the Commission to assess the safety of the power plant design itself, but to make an assessment of the manner in which the system already is or will be realised at Cernavoda, and whether this will be in compliance with Western standards and practices as far as relevant to the EIA.

To fulfil this task the following procedures were taken based on the requirements of the ToR:

• Detailed study of the Commission Recommendations and the Council Directives regarding to both radiological and non-radiological EIA
• Detailed evaluation of existing reports concerning EIA of NPP I and NPP 2
• Study of relevant studies already performed, on-going, or planned
• Identification of responsibilities of the different organisations involved
• Detailed study of relevant standards and practices regarding to the protection of NPP staff and off-site nuclear emergency response provisions
• Summarization of the acquired information
• Identification of data gaps
• Search for and collection of missing or incomplete data
• Preparation of the ETA report and assessment of radiological protection provisions at the project site
• Identification of deficiencies and recommendations for an Environmental Action Plan
• To provide technical assistance to the Beneficiary in
  Romania/>/> in order to achieve the objectives

In summary, the overall radiation protection situation at the current NPP Unit 1 which is assumed to be identical to that to be applied at Unit 2 is considered to be in compliance with relevant international standards and practices. The significance of some minor deviations, is considered to be low and, additionally, these are understood to be resolved before the NPP Unit 2 is put into operation.

EIA Report

• The EIA report for NPP Cernavoda 2 was prepared in accordance with the Annex 1 of the Commission Recommendation 1999/829/Euroatom of December 6,1999 (radiological part) and the Article 5 of the Council Directive 85/337/EEC of June 27, 1985 and Article 3 of the same directive as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of March 3, 1997 (for non-radiological part).
• The EIA report concentrated on site description and its surroundings, major
  />installations, releases of airborne and liquid radioactive effluences in normal conditions, disposal of solid radioactive waste, unplanned releases of radioactive effluences, emergency plans, environmental monitoring.
• 
  />The EIA report also included a description of the measures envisaged to prevent, reduce and where possible offset any significant adverse effects on the environment

/> />Measures envisaged to reduce effects on the environment

/>There are many design changes in the Cernavoda Unit 2 NPP with respect to its reference NPP, the Cernavoda Unit 1. Of these design improvements, the majority is related to safety and the mitigation of postulated accidents. Therefore, the dose estimates made in the Cernavoda Unit 1 EIS can be assumed to be conservative for the Unit 2 NPP. The list of major changes planned for this unit includes a number of the NPP components and systems, including Heat Transport System (HTS) and components, heat transport auxiliary systems, safety systems, instrumentation and control systems and the control room. Improvements have also been recommended for safety analysis methodologies.

Besides improvement of technology planned for Cernavoda NPP Unit 2 compared to Unit 1, there are several measures, which are planned or are in progress in order to prevent or reduce significant adverse on the environmental. Major new installations are as follows:

• Sewage treatment system. Sewage is currently collected from buildings on the NPP Site and discharged into the Cernavoda municipal sewage system. This untreated sewage is then discharged to the
  Danube/> River/>/>. A new sewage treatment plan is proposed
• Intermediate spent fuel storage. For final disposal of the spent fuel, it has been decided to postpone detailed plans, in order to profit from the more advanced programs that are ongoing in many other countries. Until then, plans are to enlarge the intermediate storage capacity to allow storage of the spent fuel. The company is preparing a project for construction of an intermediate repository for spent nuclear fuel with a capacity to cover both units.
• 
  />Evacuation bridge. Careful planning of intervention strategies is important, because of the close location of the Cernavoda NPP to Cernavoda town. About 25,000 people live within a 5 km radius. Under the present circumstances, they cannot be quickly evacuated. Furthermore, the likely evacuation route passes close to the Site. It is planned to build a bridge over the water channel, to provide a new evacuation route that would be further from the Site. Based on information from SNN, such a bridge is under construction and will be finished in the year 2002 i.e. well before Unit 2 is put into operation.