Bulgaria to Invite Bids for Construction of Kozloduy NPP Unit in H2

Posted: Friday, November 29, 2013

Bulgaria plans to hold a tender for the construction of a new unit at its sole nuclear power plant (NPP), Kozloduy, in the second half of 2014, the country’s energy ministry said on Thursday.

Bulgaria should first prepare a financial model, which would take some six to eight month, before it invites bids for the construction of a new unit, energy minister Dragomir Stoynev said as quoted in a press release of the ministry.

The Kozloduy plant remained with two operational reactors of 1,000 megawatts (MW) each after the country closed down four units of 440 MW each to address nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to its accession to the bloc. In 2012 the government decided to add another 1,000 MW unit to the Kozloduy plant.

Stoynev also said that the chief executive officers of Kozloduy NPP and the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH), together with the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, will prepare a report, on the basis of which the government will decide whether to mandate BEH to hold talks with U.S.–based Westinghouse Electric Company on using its AP1000 technology for the unit it plans to build.

On Saturday, speaking upon his return from a visit to the U.S. where he got acquainted with the Westinghouse technology, Stoynev said he would recommend to the government to open talks with the US company. The reactor would have a lifespan of 60 years, with an option to be extended by another 20 years at least. The energy minister also said that U.S. lender Ex-Im Bank is interested in proving part of the funds, and that construction works could begin by 2016 at the earliest.

Source: SeeNews