The executive has recently elaborated a draft emergency ordinance under which the price of heavy water is increased from 1,428 lei / kg to 2,050 lei / kg, the financing to be ensured by both Nuclearelectrica and the Government. In support of the normative act, the officials said that the amendment is necessary having regard to "the context of economic crisis that Romania is also undergoing" and the fact that the Romanian state is unable to fully finance the production of heavy water.

According to the substantiation note, the lack of financial resources of the state budget "can create major disfunctionalities in the current activity of the Romanian Authority for Nuclear Activities, at the same time existing the risk of stopping the production of heavy water with social - economic and strategic implications at local and national level in the absence of another alternative".

"The temporary stop of the heavy water production facilities would lead to negative effects on the environment, given that hydrogen sulphide, a lethal and highly corrosive gas, should be burned in a very short time, which would cause the emission of large amounts of SO2 in the atmosphere. These large amounts of SO2 cause acid rain over large areas. The temporary stop of the facilities implies high-cost measures and operations," the government officials also claim in the recitals.

By the end of January 2009, of the total quantity of 1,100 tonnes of heavy water, 404 tonnes were received and paid by SN Nuclearelectrica SA, from budgetary sources, which leaves a rest of 696 tonnes of heavy water, to be executed as of 1 February 2009. The total value remaining to be executed, calculated at the new regulated price of 2,050 lei / kg, is 1,426.8 million lei. Of this total value, 1,192.3 million lei will be borne by the state budget, and the remaining 234.5 million lei from Nuclearelectrica's