MISSISSAUGA, Ont. -- Candu Energy is hopeful about selling Canada's first nuclear reactors in years after Romanian and Chinese state-owned companies signed a letter of intent to invest in and develop two reactors in Romania.

The subsidiary of SNC-Lavalin (TSX:SNC) said Wednesday that the new units would be built on the Cernavoda site where initial construction was halted in the early 1990s.

Two Candu 6 reactors went into service in 1996 and 2007, and are generating about 20 per cent of Romania's energy supply.

Candu officials are in Romania meeting with the China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., who will visit Canada to conduct due diligence.

Established in 1994, the Chinese energy company has more than 6,000 megawatts of installed global nuclear capacity and 17,750 MW under construction.

Romania's Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica had been looking for investors after several partners, including GDF Suez, withdrew from the project after a company was established in 2009 to oversee the completion of units 3 and 4.