site.btaUkraine's Energoatom Experts Visit Belene Nuclear Power Plant Site

Experts from the Ukrainian National Nuclear Energy Generating Company Energoatom visited the site of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the National Electricity Company (NEK) said here on Monday. The visit was organized in accordance with the Bulgarian National Assembly’s resolution of July 2023 to conduct negotiations for the potential sale of equipment intended for the Belene NPP Project. Last year a meeting between the Bulgarian and Ukrainian sides took the first concrete step to start the negotiation process.

On site, the Ukrainian experts familiarized themselves with the equipment, as well as with the technical documentation.

The visit’s agenda features an opportunity for the Ukrainian experts to get acquainted with the pre-conservation process that the NEK experts carry out on the equipment. The purpose of the pre-conservation is to maintain the equipment in a condition that meets the requirements for operation, NEK explained.

Earlier in May, caretaker Energy Minister Vladimir Malinov held a video conference with his Ukrainian counterpart German Galushchenko. They discussed accelerating the process of delivering to Ukraine equipment intended for the Belene N-plant project. The Bulgarian Energy Minister said that he had preliminary talks on the matter with MPs, as a result of which there is a strong chance to finalize the deal in the coming months. "We perfectly realize the importance of this process and we will make every effort to speed it up as much as possible," Malinov said.

Ukraine hopes to sign a deal in June to buy two nuclear reactors from Bulgaria as it seeks to compensate for the loss of its vast Russian-occupied six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant, the head of nuclear firm Energoatom, Petro Kotin, told Reuters on March 22.

In July 2023, the Parliament directed the Energy Minister to negotiate with his Ukrainian counterpart or Ukrainian Energy Ministry’s representative the sale of the equipment intended for the Belene NPP project. According to the adopted resolution, the sale price cannot be lower than what Bulgaria paid for the equipment - nearly BGN 1.2 billion.