Included in the category of information of strategic interest, the activity of ROMAG-Prod (the biggest Romanian heavy-water producer) is known too little to public opinion.
Permanently modernising its manufacture lines and technological process, the company, with only a little over 1500 employees, succeeded in achieving a turnover of 278 million lei (equivalent to 82.5 million euros), although is only using three of the eight production lines.
Telephonically contacted, the General manager of ROMAG-Prod, Cornel Ghiţă, told us the institution had firm contracts with the Romanian state until 2012, with the existent possibility to extend them until 2018-2020. "In spite of the fact that the investments for Line 2 were stopped and the module preserved, we succeeded in supplying Cernavodă reactors 1 and 2 the heavy water needs, from the initial loading to the end of the planned life time.
At present, we have firm orders and are working for Cernavodă reactors 3 and 4. The equipment of the ROMAG-Prod branch produce the purest heavy water in the world, meant for nuclear use, with 99.80 - 99.99% isotope concentration, at an optimum capacity of 180 tons per year, which lead to the possibility to export important quantities. Thus, 21% of the plant production was delivered to Canada, South Korea, China, Germany and the USA", the Manager also told us, pointing out he could not give information on the beneficiaries, given the fact that "heavy water is a product of nuclear interest, which falls under the incidence of the internal and international legislation specific to the nuclear sector".
The performances attained by ROMAG-Prod with regard to heavy water quality may result into new external contracts. Market sources informed us that Turkey is interested in building CANDU-type reactors on the principle of those in Cernavodă, which may lead to the conclusion of a
