Cernavoda is a small town of slightly more than 20,000 residents in the southeast of Romania located on the Danube River, not far from the Black Sea. Cernavoda 1 and 2 produce approximately 18% of Romania's electricity. Water from the Danube is used for cooling the reactor. Traces of tritium, a radioactve isotope of hydrogen, have been found in the water that is released back into the river from the reactor.

Recommendations have been made to relocate pregnant women and mothers with very young children, and local residents have been advised not to eat produce grown in local gardens.

The level of tritium emitted from the CANDU6 reactors will increase to unacceptable levels if reactor 3 and 4 are permitted to upgrade. On average 60% of tritium releases occur in the Danube and 75% in the atmosphere.

The power station is located in an area that is seismic active (the Vrancha breach) which has seen heavy earthquakes in recent history. An earthquake in 1977 destroyed much of the Romanian capital Bucharest and caused damage in the area surrounding of Cernavoda. The CANDU 6 reactor also lacks sufficient protection against terrorist attack.

During the Environmental Impact Assessment of Cernavoda 3 and 4, Greenpeace organised a presentation of a report by Dr. Ian Fairlie into tritium emissions from the existing reactors. During the presentation in the town hall in Cernavoda, the state owned operator Nuclearelectrica disrupted the meeting and used intrusive surveillance on Dr. Fairlie and the Greenpeace team. All attendants at the meeting were registered by taking in their ID cards at the entrance of the town hall. Local human rights activists criticised the resulting lack of opportunity for local inhabitants to discuss the findings presented by Dr. Fairlie freely. Romanian law clearly assigns responsibility for the safe operation of the reactors to the operator, Nuclearelectrica.

Clearly, pregnant women and children up to 4 years old are more vulnerable to the high tritium emissions of CANDU 6 reactors. This risk of exposure will become even higher should the two new planned reactors come on stream.

The Romanian Government is aware of the financial risks involved in this project. In order to convince the six strategic investors, they decided to put extensive state aid into the project, but did not sufficiently realise this will be in breach with European state aid regulations.

The Government decided to grant a government guarantee for 220 Million Euro, a subsidy for 855 tons of heavy water for the sum of 350 Million Euro and 800 Million Euro from the National Development Fund, from which 20 Million Euro is to be allocated in 2009. CEE Bankwatch and Greenpeace have complained about this state aid to the European Commission.