All Rivals Sweeten Bids for Bulgaria New N-Plant

Business | January 10, 2008, Thursday // 00:00
Bulgaria: All Rivals Sweeten Bids for Bulgaria New N-Plant Belene before construction works were frozen in early 1990s over environmental concerns and cost overruns. Photo by NEK

All five foreign companies, vying for a 49% stake in Bulgaria's planned nuclear power plant of Belene, submitted improved offers, announced state power grid operator NEK, which is charge of the selection procedure.

The short-listed bidders Czech CEZ, German E.ON and RWE, Belgian Electrabel and Italy's Enel had submitted indicative bids in October and were invited to put in improved offers by January 9.

"All five bidders submitted improved offers," a NEK spokeswoman said without disclosing any details.

At the end of last year the European Commission said it cleared Bulgaria's plans to build the plant at Belene on the Danube, using Russian third-generation VVER reactors, built by Atomstroyexport, which won EU certification of its technology for the job earlier this year.

Bulgaria's parliament approved plans to underwrite up to EUR 600 M in loans to build the power plant, the total costs of which are expected to reach EUR 4 B.

Bulgaria decided to unfreeze its plans to build the plant in 2004, having mothballed them a decade and a half earlier. The country sees the two 1000 MW reactors as compensating the loss of capacity caused by shutting down four older Soviet reactors at its Kozloduy facility at the request of the EU, which the country joined in January, 2007.

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