It uses CANDU reactor technology from AECL, using heavy water produced at Drobeta-Turnu Severin as its neutron moderator and as its coolant agent.

A first plan to build the power plant on the Olt River with Soviet technology was rejected by Nicolae Ceaușescu as he wanted the country to remain independent of the USSR and avoid potential "energy blackmail".

The United States Atomic Energy Commission s approved this request in 1970,[2] and the feasibility study for the future power plant was completed in 1976.

Three more partially completed CANDU reactors exist on the same site, part of a project discontinued at the fall of the Ceaușescu regime, their work being halted since 1 December 1990.

A 2006 feasibility study carried out by Deloitte and Touche determined that the most economically viable scenario was to build the two reactors at the same time, with the cost estimated at €2.3 billion.

[14][15] On 20 November 2008, Nuclearelectrica, ArcelorMittal, ČEZ, GDF Suez, Enel, Iberdrola, and RWE agreed to set up a joint company dedicated to the completion, commissioning and operation of Units 3 and 4.

In November 2013, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) signed an agreement to invest in the project at an undisclosed level.

[18] In 2016 the Romanian government gave support for the creation of a joint venture led by CGN to progress the project.

[24] In November 2024, an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to finish Units 3 and 4 was signed by a joint venture consisting of Fluor, AtkinsRéalis, Ansaldo Nucleare, and Sargent & Lundy Energie.