Romania has invited French nuclear power company Areva in the project for its second nuclear power plant, according to an interview of minister of economy Adriean Videanu published Thursday by Romanian daily Adev?rul.

Videanu said that Romania needs the French experts and hopes that Areva will provide the best solution for the project. He had made the proposal during an official visit to Paris in the first week of June.

The second Romanian NPP is planned to be constructed in the north-west region of Transylvania, but an exact location has not been specified yet.

Videanu was not specific whether it Areva would be the one to construct the second Romanian NPP, saying that at this point the country needs research and specifications for the project, in particular finding an appropriate site.

He described Areva as a leading European integrator of technology in the field of energy.

Videanu reiterated Romania's commitment to nuclear energy, saying that the second NPP is to be finished between 2020-30. Two new reactors of the already-existing Cernavoda NPP are set to be operational 2017.

Romania has a prior 2-reactor nuclear power facility at Cernavoda on the Danube river, which became operational 1996. The first two reactors were built by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, along with Italian Ansaldo Energia, and Romanian state company Nuclearelectrica. The two new reactors at Cernavoda are to be built by a joint venture of Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal (Luxembourg), CEZ (Czech R.), GDFSuez (France), Enel (Italy), Iberdrola (Spain) and RWE (Germany).

In the interview Videanu said that there is a temporary hurdle in formally setting up the joint venture, but was optimistic that an agreement would be signed by September 25. He commented that it is desirable that all of the partners in the joint company stay below than a 50% share in order to retain a viable partnership.