site.btaWestinghouse Signs Shareholder Agreement on Expansion of Kozloduy N-plant

Sofia, August 1 (BTA) - Westinghouse Electric Company Friday announced that it has signed a shareholder agreement following consultations with all Bulgarian political parties on the expansion of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, the company said.

The agreement is not binding on the parties regarding the continuation of the project. This and subsequent agreements will be subject to future government oversight.

The Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plant was selected by Bulgaria. The parties to the agreement entered into exclusive talks in December 2013, following a feasibility study conducted under a competitive tender.

Speaking at a hearing by the parliamentary group of the Coalition for Bulgaria, Economy and Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev explained that the agreement was signed to approve the previous steps. The reactor will take ten years to build. Stoynev said: "We do not have the most important things yet: a financial model to calculate the end price of the reactor and of the electricity generated by it, the names of the creditor banks, a contract for design, delivery and construction. Only when we have the entire framework we will be able to talk about Bulgaria's specific commitments."

Stoynev said the idea was not to spend any money until it was clear how much it would cost to build and operate the reactor. To avoid an awkward situation for a future government, there is a clause in the agreement that its enforcement is subject to approval by the next government. This agreement is the first step which needs approval from a future government if the political forces reach a consensus. If there is no agreement in the next cabinet, the whole thing is off, Stoynev said.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) will elaborate an overall political position on the shareholder agreement with Westinghouse, Coalition for Bulgaria Floor Leader Atanas Merdjanov said after the parliamentary group's meeting. He explained the position will be prepared at a meeting of the Energy Policy Council with the BSP National Council, and will then be subject to approval by the party's Executive Bureau on August 8.

Tasko Ermenkov MP of Coalition for Bulgaria said it is possible that the outgoing cabinet is implementing undertaken commitments by signing the shareholder agreement with Westinghouse, because otherwise there is no logic in being in a hurry to endorse "something which does not cause actions". In his words, what is most unpleasant is that in this way Bulgaria practically reserves the Unit 7 construction site for the US company and thus cannot conduct negotiations with other possible partners. "For me, this behaviour goes beyond the framework of what is normal for an outgoing government three days before its dissolution with a presidential decree," Ermenkov said.

Ermenkov finds it concerning to build something without proven exploitation capabilities. He also has objections to the nuclear unit's stated price. In his words, the indicative price of this reactor, 5.3 billion dollars, is higher than that of the two reactors under another project which has been suspended. He was referring to the suspended Belene N-plant project.