Bulgarian Govt to Go for Expanding Kozloduy NPP If Belene Fails

Business » ENERGY | August 2, 2010, Monday // 17:23
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Govt to Go for Expanding Kozloduy NPP If Belene Fails Bulgarian Economy Minister Traikov gave a news conference Monday dedicated to his first year in office. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria is definitely going to expand its nuclear energy capacity even if the construction of the Belene NPP fails, Economy Minister Traicho Traikov said.

Traikov spoke Monday on the occasion of his first year in office as Minister of Economy, Energy, and Tourism.

He made clear the government’s position that the construction of a seventh nuclear reactor at the existing Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is “a much cheaper and much better option in many respects”.

Traikov said there was no political decision for the construction of a seventh reactor at Kozloduy yet but that this project can be taken up regardless of the fate of the controversial second nuclear plant at Belene.

“If we don’t build the Belene NPP, we are definitely going to speed up the construction of Unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP,” he stated explicitly.

Traikov pointed out that the fate of the project for a second nuclear plant at Belene will be clear by the end of the second year of his term in office – the government would have found a strategic investor for it, or it will be a closed chapter.

The Economy Minister emphasized the fact that the Cabinet was conducting talks with neighboring countries to participate in the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, and that Serbia has already expressed interest in participating and is considering investing a sum that will be about 1% of the total cost of the construction of the NPP.

He also announced that the government was going to select a financial consultant for Belene by the end of August. HSBC, Societe Generale, KPMG in a consortium with McGuire, Rotschild, Arjil, and Ernst&Young have applied in the tender to become financial consultants of the Belene NPP.

Traikov said only three of these companies have remained in the competition but refused to announce which ones.

The role of the financial consultant will be to come up with suggestions about the restructuring of the Belene project and draft criteria for the selection of a strategic foreign investor.

The Belene NPP construction was estimated by the former Bulgarian government to cost about EUR 4 B but the Borisov government forecasts it will cost about EUR 10 B. The previously selected strategic investor, the German company RWE, which was supposed to provide EUR 2 B for the construction in exchange for a 49% stake, pulled out of the project in the fall of 2009. The last two Bulgarian Cabinets have refused offers from Russian PM Vladimir Putin for a state loan.

The Borisov Cabinet has declared that it will go ahead with the construction of the Belene plant only if it finds a “strategic European investor.” The plant is to be constructed by the Russian state company Atomstroyexport, and is planned to have two 1000 MW reactors.

Only Units 5 and 6 (1000 MW each) of the Kozloduy NPP are in operation as Bulgaria closed the 440 MW units 1-4 in accordance with its EU accession treaty over international safety concerns.

Speaking on Monday, Economy Minister Traikov also announced that the government planned to build a storage facility for processed nuclear fuel at the Kozloduy NPP. In his words, the funding for the survey of the future construction of a nuclear waste site has almost been secured.

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Tags: Kozloduy NPP, Nuclear Power Plant, Belene NPP, Traicho Traikov, Economy Minister, financial consultant

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