New Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Sunday that he backed building two more nuclear reactors to ensure the nation's energy independence, though four of six investors have pulled out.
"My view is that we should try to continue this project, while respecting all safety standards of course, especially after the Fukushima catastrophe," Ponta told the private Romanian television Pro TV.
"Romania's energy independence is crucial," he added to explain his support for a project estimated to cost four billion euros ($5.2 billion).
Two reactors currently operate at the Cernavoda plant in southeastern Romania, but plans to build two more have been blocked by the 2011 withdrawal of four investors.
They are the Czech group CEZ, GDF Suez of France, the German RWE and Spanish company Iberdrola.
Germany shut down its own nuclear plants following the March 2011 disaster in Fukushima, Japan and all Japanese plants are also now offline.
That could pose a potential problem as Japan heads into the summer months when electricity consumption surges higher.
Brazil said last week that it had shelved plans to build new nuclear plants, but Lithuania, an eastern European country like Romania, plans to push ahead with a project to build a reactor with the Japanese group Hitachi by 2020.
Romania's two nuclear plants use Candu-type Canadian technology and produce about 18 percent of the country's electricity needs.
The country's new centre-left government plans to seek a moratorium on shale gas drilling however, putting on hold plans by US oil giant Chevron to tap reserves in eastern and southern Romania.
