site.btaEnergy Minister Radev: Progress Made on Project for Kozloduy NPP’s Reactor Unit 7

There has been progress on the project for the construction of the seventh reactor unit of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP), Energy Minister Rumen Radev said during a hearing at Parliament's Energy Committee on Tuesday.

According to Radev, an inter-ministerial working group has been formed to build a rail link to Kozloduy, as the absence of such infrastructure is a logistical challenge for the project. "Expropriation procedures and other activities are underway. They need the support of all political groups," he added.

Commenting on the engineering design process, Radev said that clear deadlines have been set and a report is expected to be prepared by March 2024.

In the meantime, documents are being prepared to be sent to potential contractors for the general construction work. “We can make autonomous decisions on the choice of generator and turbine suppliers,” Radev explained. “Most likely this will not be done through a consortium, but through a multilateral contract, with a clear commitment of all participants until the end of the project,” the minister further said.

The Energy Ministry takes seriously the idea of building an eighth reactor unit at the Kozloduy NPP, Radev added.