Westinghouse to be paid €999,500 to carry out the feasibility study for unit VII of Kozloduy NPP

The American company Westinghouse has been chosen to carry out the feasibility study for the construction of unit VII of Kozloduy NPP. The deal, in which Westinghouse is to receive €999,500 for its services, was struck on Monday in the presence of Delyan Dobrev, Minister of Economy, Energy and Tourism. The contract was signed by Javier Gonzalez, Vice-President of Westinghouse for Southern Europe, and Lyuben Marinov, Chief Executive of the project company tasked with the construction of unit VII of Kozloduy NPP.

Westinghouse came up with the best offer among five companies that took part in the public procurement procedure, the other four being: France's Areva, which was bidding independently and in a consortium with Japanese Mitsubishi, Bulgaria's Risk Engineering, whose Chief Executive, Bogomil Manchev, is also Chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum, and Australia's WorleyParsons. The decision to build a new reactor in Kozloduy NPP coincided with the Government's decision to drop the Belene NPP project in the spring of 2012. That's why the idea was to use the reactor, the order for which was placed with Atomstroyexport and for which the Government has already partially paid.

Westinghouse showed serious interest in building a new unit in Kozloduy NPP, with its own funds at that, back in 2009. In 2011, the company declined to get involved in the Belene project, citing the outdated technology of Atomstroyexport as the main reason, but once again stated its willingness to be part of a potential capacity expansion of Kozloduy NPP. At the time, the company presented its new generation 3+ AP 1000 reactor. The concern is already preparing the construction of four reactors of this kind in the US, said Jose Gutierez, Vice-President for Southern and Eastern Europe. However, he didn't comment on the price of these reactors. The 3+ generation is better than the third generation reactors which were supposed to be used in Belene NPP. Westinghouse's reactors combine passive and active safety systems, their construction time is only 36 months and they are easier to operate.

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