site.btaRussian Companies Allowed to Supply Goods and Provide Services for Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant

The Bulgarian government approved an exemption from certain provisions of Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, the cabinet press service reported on Wednesday. The exemption allows the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant to award contracts to selected companies listed in an annex to the decision. The plant will be able to import from Russia iron and steel products under contracts named in other annexes to Wednesday's decision.

Furthermore, the decision permits the import of goods and technologies from Russia and the use of Russian technical assistance for them as necessary for the implementation of contracts expressly named in annexes to the decision. The derogation from the EU rules will be valid until the expiry of the contracts concerned.

A large part of the systems and the equipment at the Kozloduy NPP originated in Russia, which is why some of the contracts for supplying goods and providing services for the purposes of annual maintenance and reliable and safe functioning of the two operational reactors at Kozloduy (Units 5 and 6), have been signed or need to be signed with Russian companies.

Kozloduy is the only nuclear power plant in Bulgaria. It produces more than a third of the electricity generated in the country.