Companies from Japan, Korea, China and the United States are interested in building two new reactors - 3 and 4 respectively - at Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, that should be ready in eight years at the most, said Minister of Economy, Trade and Business Climate Ion Ariton at a news conference.

'There is this priority investment for the Government. We want to build the two new reactors as quickly as possible. We already have requests for public-private partnership in this respect. /.../ Some firms withdrew at the end of last year, but companies from Japan, Korea, China and the United States are interested', Ariton said.

The minister gave assurance that the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant (south-east of Bucharest) has no operational problems, as checked by a commission of specialists in the last days.

The last to show interest are KOREA International Nuclear KEPCO consortium, which announced plans to take part in building reactors 3 and 4.

Companies GDF Suez, Iberdrola and RWE Power, at a meeting in this January of the signatory companies of the Investors Agreement aimed at building the Cernavoda reactors 3 and 4, announced they were withdrawing from the project, for reasons related to each company's strategy, the Economy Ministry said. The companies remaining in the project - Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal and Enel - reiterated their decision to go ahead as planned.