NPP Cernavoda is a 1,411 MW nuclear power station in Constanta, Romania. It is operated by Ministerul Economiei; Comertului Si Mediului De Afaceri [100%]. Based on its capacity (estimated), it can supply roughly 3.2 million homes (estimated). It ranks #2 of 97 Romania power plants by installed capacity. Commissioned in 1996, it is around 30 years old — long-established. As a non-combustion source, it has no direct CO₂ emissions from generation. In context, nuclear supplies about 20.5% of Romania's electricity; the national grid averages 251 gCO₂/kWh (67.5% low-carbon) (2025).
Plant data: WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0), id WRI1019093.
Known, modelled and calculated values are kept separate. Missing fields are shown as unavailable.
The capacity and/or fuel fields on this page include a source-backed provenance label from GEM, an official registry, Wikidata, OSM, or a cross-source match.
capacity: GEM tracker 2026 (location L100000500162); fuel: WRI source-record fuel
Technically it is described as pressurized heavy water reactor. Nuclear plants split uranium to raise steam with no direct CO₂; they run as steady baseload with very high capacity factors and the longest operating lifetimes of any thermal plant.
Capacity comparison computed from the WRI Global Power Plant Database; fuel-type context is general engineering background.
Installed capacity (MW), WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0).
Operated by Ministerul Economiei; Comertului Si Mediului De Afaceri [100%].
This nuclear plant uses heat from nuclear fission to raise steam for a turbine-generator. It sits in a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) — Northern Hemisphere, latitude 44.3°N — which shapes how much energy it can produce and how its output varies through the year.
Monthly mean temperature
Heating degree-days here run 12% above the median power plant in this dataset — a proxy for how much extra energy heated equipment must replace through its surfaces in winter.
Climate heat-demand index: 56/100 — this site sits in the mid third of the power plants we cover by heating degree-days.
Climate normals: WorldClim 2.1 (1970–2000 monthly normals, 10 arc-min, CC BY 4.0); zone: Köppen-Geiger world climate classification (Kottek et al. 2006, 0.5° grid). Degree-days & heat-demand index computed by PowerAtlas — a modelled heat-demand proxy, not a measured site figure.
For a plant’s outdoor hardware — heat-recovery steam generators (HRSG), expansion joints, valves, flanges and their insulation — the local climate sets how fast unprotected steel and coatings degrade. This site sits in a moderately corrosive environment (estimated ISO 9223 class C3 — Medium), with humidity / wetness the leading environmental stress.
Higher environmental severity is exactly where protective removable insulation pays back most: a sheltered micro-climate slows corrosion, UV and thermal-cycling damage and extends outdoor hardware service life. This is an indicative site-climate context — not a condition assessment of any specific plant or operator.
Indicative estimate via the ISO 9223:2012 informative method (atmospheric corrosivity from temperature, time-of-wetness and airborne salinity), using WorldClim climate normals, the Köppen-Geiger class and coast distance. Indicative, not a measured corrosion rate.
The #1 largest nuclear power plant of 2 in Romania by capacity.
Romania has 2 nuclear power plants in this dataset, together about 1,873 MW of capacity.
Coordinates 44.3215, 28.0568 from WRI Global Power Plant Database (CC BY 4.0). View on OpenStreetMap.
NPP Cernavoda is a 1,411 MW source-record nuclear power plant in Constanta, Romania, commissioned in 1996.
Its output is enough to supply roughly 3,178,378 homes (estimated).
NPP Cernavoda is operated by Ministerul Economiei; Comertului Si Mediului De Afaceri [100%].
