Russia, Bulgaria sign memorandums on Belene nuclear plant

RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED December 06, 2010

Russia and Bulgaria agreed to set up an engineering company to complete Bulgaria's Belene nuclear plant and appointed the first strategic investors in the project, a spokesperson for Russia's nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Tuesday.

The three memorandums were signed in Sofia.

Rosatom head Sergei Kirienko earlier said that that apart from Rosatom and Bulgaria's National Energy Company, the agreements also involved the Fortum and Altran companies.

On Tuesday, the Bulgarian news agency BGNES announced that the country's prime minister, Boyko Borisov, had said that Bulgaria would not allot any more money to Belene.

The Bulgarian prime minister emphasized that he would continue further discussions on Belene only if Russia invests additional money into the project, adding that Belene construction costs were around 6 billion euros.

Construction of the 1000 MW Belene project was launched in 1984, but was halted in 1991 over a shortage of funding and protests by environmental groups.

In 2004, the Bulgarian government decided to resume the construction of two reactors at 1000 MW each.

In January 2008, Russia's Atomstroyexport and Bulgaria's National Electric Company (NEC) signed a contract for the design, construction and installation of Belene's Units 1 and 2.

Topics: NPP, East Europe, Bulgaria, Russia, NPP Belene

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