A consortium led by South Korea's state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Company(KHNP) launched a project to refurbish an aging nuclear reactor at Romania's Cernavoda power plant.

According to KHNP, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the plant on Wednesday, local time, for the project that is expected to be worth two-point-eight trillion won, or around two billion U.S. dollars.

The plant's unit one reactor's 30-year operation license is set to expire after next year, and the refurbishment will involve replacement of the reactor facilities, power-generating turbines, and construction of new infrastructure, including radioactive waste storage facilities.

The consortium comprises KHNP, as well as Canada's Candu Energy and Italy's Ansaldo Nucleare, with the South Korean firm in charge of the overall replacement and infrastructure building, worth around one-point-two trillion won.

Four other South Korean companies - Doosan Enerbility, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T, and KEPCO Plant Service and Engineering - will participate as project partners.

The project is expected to take 65 months, to be completed in 2030.