Bulgaria to sign nuclear deals with Westinghouse and EDF, deputy minister says

BTA cited Elenko Bozhkov as saying that Bulgaria will agree an engineering deal with Westinghouse for the construction of two AP1000 reactors at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. It also cited him as saying that the same type of contract would be signed with EDF for the completion of two units of 1,000 megawatt capacity at Belene.

Bulgaria will sign nuclear power engineering deals with U.S. company Westinghouse and France's EDF, local agency BTA cited a deputy energy minister as saying on Tuesday.

The European Union member has sought to boost its energy security since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and has already signed deals with EDF and Westinghouse for the supply of nuclear fuel as it seeks to diversify away from Russian supplies. BTA cited Elenko Bozhkov as saying that Bulgaria will agree an engineering deal with Westinghouse for the construction of two AP1000 reactors at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.

It also cited him as saying that the same type of contract would be signed with EDF for the completion of two units of 1,000 megawatt capacity at Belene. Bulgaria would aim to ensure maximum input from Bulgarian industry in the contract with Westinghouse and to make maximum use of the existing infrastructure, he said.

Intergovermental agreements will be signed on the contracts. The EDF Executive Director in charge of new power units will visit Bulgaria on April 4, Bozhkov said.

The Kozloduy plant, on the Danube River, produces about 35% of the country's electricity. The Belene project has been cancelled and restarted several times since the 1980s. In 2018, Sofia revived the project to make use of two nuclear reactors it bought for more than 620 million euros from Russia's Rosatom in compensation for scrapping an original project in 2012.