Bulgarian Govt Gears Up for Vote on Unit 7 of Kozloduy NPP

Business » ENERGY | April 4, 2012, Wednesday // 16:45
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Govt Gears Up for Vote on Unit 7 of Kozloduy NPP Photo by Sofia Photo Agency

The government is to vote next week on the decision to build a seventh unit at the Kozloduy NPP, according to Valentin Nikolov, Deputy Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism.

Nikolov told journalists Wednesday that the Cabinet's decision would be followed by the establishment of a working group on the implementation of the project.

The working group will include representatives of Russian Atomstroyexport, the main contractor on the suspended Belene NPP project, as was agreed during last week's visit of Energy and Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev to Moscow, news portal mediapool.bg notes.

After Bulgaria officially gave up on the Belene NPP project, the government said that the nuclear reactor earmarked for the Belene site would be transferred to the Kozloduy NPP.

Nikolov explained Wednesday that the modernization of Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy NPP was proceeding on schedule, thereby rejecting the recent claims of Sergey Tsochev, head of the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency, that the project for the extension of the life of the two reactors by 20 years was being delayed by two years.

The Deputy Energy Minister ruled out a scenario in which Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy NPP are stopped over the expiration of their licenses and Unit 7 has not been completed yet.

The rumor went into circulation last week after it emerged that the Unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP could only become a fact after 2021, given that the licenses of Units 5 and 6 expire in 2017 and 2019, while the project for the extension of their exploitation was said to be running behind schedule.

In his Wednesday interview, Nikolov stressed that the Bulgaria had a generation capacity of over 9000 MW, while the consumption amounted to a maximum of 7000 MW.

He went on to say that a set of amendments to Bulgaria's Energy Act had already been submitted to Parliament.

Nikolov suggested that the new legislation concerning energy market liberalization would be passed by the end of April.

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Tags: Belene NPP, Kozloduy NPP, nuclear reactor, Valentin Nikolov, Delyan Dobrev, Energy and Economy Minister

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