Florin Constantin Tatar

The Nuclear Agency and for Radioactive Waste (ANDR) oversees Romania’s energy-related and non-energy-related peaceful nuclear activities and ensures the safe disposal of radioactive waste. ANDR also makes sure that all nuclear-related activities in Romania comply with the provisions of the National Strategy for the Development of the Nuclear Field and of the National Nuclear Programme. Florin Constantin Tatar, President, discusses ANDR’s current projects.

European Times: What are your priorities for ANDR?

Florin Constantin Tatar: ANDR’s main role is to make sure Romania’s radioactive waste is disposed of safely. We also support nuclear-related projects in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, medicine and nuclear energy. ANDR represents Romania in international organisations in the nuclear field and partners with different EU companies like France’s ANDRA, Assystem and Areva, and with the UK’s National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) and Amec Foster Wheeler. Through our partnership with those companies, we have significantly improved Romania’s management of radioactive waste over the past three years.

European Times: Are you open to more EU partnerships?

Florin Constantin Tatar: One of our biggest projects is around €1 billion repository for storing low- and medium- level radioactive waste. This is one of Romania’s biggest projects to date. We will soon be on the market with the first packages for the investment and the facility should be completed by 2021. We are looking for EU partners to provide us with the expertise we need to make sure this facility meets the highest EU standards. We are looking for partners with the necessary knowledge who can share this knowledge with Romanian companies. We have the funding for the project but we also consider EU financial support and especially EU expertise. Another proposed project for ANDR is to build a facility to produce containers to be used in the repository. We are in process to start a feasibility study and we consider transferring an EU technology for containers production. A third project is to build a treatment and conditioning station to treat waste before it is stored in the new storage facility. We welcome other EU partners for this project.

European Times: What is your personal message to potential EU partners?

Florin Constantin Tatar: Romania’s nuclear programme is developing rapidly and ANDR will continue to ensure that it meets the highest EU and international standards. Investors can be confident about getting involved in nuclear projects in Romania.

60 years of nuclear activity in Romania

60 years of nuclear activity in Romania

On 10 September 2015 the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Tourism, through the Nuclear Agency and Radioactive Waste, opened the national exhibition “60 years of nuclear activity in Romania-Foreseeing the Future with a Responsible radioactive waste management”, held from 10 to 11 September at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

At the opening event alongside the Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Tourism, Catalin Olteanu and President of the Nuclear Agency and Radioactive Waste, Florin Tatar were also present: Chairman of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano, Chairman of the Board of Governors, ambassadors from Austria, Portugal, Belgium, the Philippines and diplomats from the permanent missions in Vienna in Poland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Chile, Slovakia, the Philippines, Moldova, Norway and others.

 In the opening speeches were made assessments regarding the activity Nuclear Romania, mentioning nuclear important moments of history from 1955 until present.

There were also topics addressed on the present and future work of the  Nuclear Agency and for Radioactive Waste based on the collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency and its international partners.

In this context, the Chairman of the IAEA Yukiya Amano reaffirmed the interest and support on future projects conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Tourism. In this regard, he stated that pays special attention to radioactive waste management, problem also faced by other State Members, following the IAEA to extend technical cooperation in this field.

IFNEC

IFNEC

The Executive Committee of the International Framework for Nuclear Energy Cooperation (IFNEC) held its annual Executive Committee ministerial meeting on October 23th, 2015, in Sinaia, Romania to address some of the most significant and pressing global issues facing nuclear energy today.  Representatives among the 65 Participant countries and the 4 Permanent International Observer Organizations of IFNEC expressed their deep appreciation to the Government of Romania for graciously and effectively chairing the 2015 Executive Committee.

We mention a few representatives participants, such as: Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy S.U.A.(D.O.E.)-John Kotek, Deputy Assistant Secretary-International Nuclear Energy Policy and Cooperation- Edward McGinnis, Deputy General Manager-International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – Mikhail Chudakov, Head – Nuclear Energy Technology-Nuclear Waste & Decommissioning in Directorate General for Energy,European Commission – Maurizio Boella, CEO- Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) William Magwood,

During the Meeting, the Representatives reaffirmed their commitment to IFNEC’s mission to provide a forum for cooperation among participating states to explore mutually beneficial approaches to ensure the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes proceeds in a manner that is efficient and meets the highest standards of safety, security and non-proliferation.

It was acknowledged that the demand for affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy sources continues to represent a vitally important need of countries throughout the world, and that many countries continue to use, or seek to deploy for the first time, nuclear energy in order to help meet those needs.

However, the ability to finance nuclear-related projects, ranging from development of new and replacement electricity generating capacity to safety upgrades and decommissioning, continues to represent a tremendous challenge to much of the global nuclear community. IFNEC Representatives called on the various relevant leading stakeholders, including multilateral and regional development banks, energy planning authorities, industry, and the regulatory community, to work together to address this challenge.