U.S.-based Westinghouse, controlled by Toshiba Group, said on Friday it has
signed a shareholder agreement following consultations with all Bulgarian
political parties for the construction of a new unit at Bulgaria's sole nuclear
power plant (NPP) Kozloduy.
Westinghouse will provide all of the plant's
equipment, design, engineering and fuel and will issue a competitive tender for
the construction of the new unit within the next year, it said in a press
release.
The agreement will be subject to future government oversight,
the U.S. company added.
The AP1000 reactor is projected to be online by
2023.
The Bulgarian government said earlier on Friday in a separate press
release that the agreement does not cover state guarantees and long-term
contracts for the purchase of power.
The decision to add a new 1,000
megawatt (MW) unit at the Kozloduy site was taken by the Bulgarian government in
2012.
In December, experts from Westinghouse, Toshiba Corporation and the
state-run Bulgarian Energy Holding, which is the NPP's owner, signed an
agreement to open talks on the construction of the new reactor. Later,
Westinghouse replaced its parent company as a strategic investor in the
construction of the new unit.
In June, Kozloduy’s deputy CEO said
Westinghouse is planned to hold a 30% stake in the project company, which will
emerge through the transformation of Kozloduy-New Builds, a unit of the plant
operator set up in May 2012 for the construction of the new reactor. The U.S.
company will exit the project company once the reactor is completed and fuelled
up.
The Kozloduy NPP remained with two operational reactors of 1,000 MW
each after the country closed down four units of 440 MW each to address nuclear
safety concerns of the European Union prior to its accession to the bloc.
Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.