The strategic investor deal with US Westinghouse and Japan's Toshiba for unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP does not entail commitments, according tо the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH).

BEH's statement came as on Friday Kozloduy NPP's deputy head Aleksandar Nikolov confirmed for daily Trud that the US company is set to buy a 30-percent stake in the plant's subsidiary AEC Kozloduy Novi Moshtnosti ("Kozloduy NPP New Capacities"), the filial to build Unit 7.

The talks with Westinghouse Electric and Toshiba started in December 2013, when a strategic investor agreement for the construction of unit 7 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant was signed on the basis of a decision of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Economy and Energy, according to BEH.

Over the past six months, intensive talks were conducted on the structuring of the project and on the basic parameters of the shareholder agreement between "Kozloduy NPP- New Capacities" (the project company for the construction of unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP), Kozloduy NPP, and Westinghouse Electric.

The talks on the agreement were held with the participation of representatives of the parties to the agreement, as well as representatives of the Ministry of Economy and Energy and BEH.

The agreement is an overall framework of potential cooperation between the parties and it does not presuppose taking any commitments at the current stage, according to BEH.

The amount of the investments required for implementing the project is yet to be specified during the talks on the terms of the contract for engineering, supply and construction.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei business daily announced on Thursday that Japanese Toshiba Corporation, via its US subsidiary Westinghouse Electric, was in a final stage of talks with BEH for a nuclear reactor in Bulgaria.

The business daily mentioned a value of the project of around EUR 3.6 B.