Bulgaria to build new nuclear unit by 2022
MOSCOW. July 28. KAZINFORM Construction of Unit 7 at Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant in the Danube town of Kozloduy should be completed in 2022, NPP CEO Valentin Nikolov said.
"Everything depends on the talks with the Russian side about the specific nuclear reactor," Nikolov was quoted by Sofia News Agency as saying.
Bulgaria decided to build a new unit at the Kozloduy NPP after it gave up on the construction of a second NPP in Belene in March 2012.
According to RIA Novosti, the government decided to install the 1000 MW reactor already produced for Belene by Russian contractor Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, at the existing plant in Kozloduy.
Five companies have applied to conduct a preliminary study for the project, and one of them will be picked by the Bulgarian government by the end of next week, Nikolov said.
Only the 1000MW Units 5 and 6 are currently operational at the Kozloduy NPP, after Bulgaria agreed to shut down the 440 MW Units 1-4 in 2002 and 2006 as part of its EU accession talks under pressure from Brussels.
The Bulgarian government has also initiated a program to extend the life of Units 5 and 6 by at least 20 years as their life is set to expire in 2017 and 2019, respectively.