site.btaBulgaria Insists that Westinghouse Participates with 49% Share in Financing of Kozloduy N-Plant Unit 7 Project

Bulgaria Insists that Westinghouse Participates with 49% Share in Financing of Kozloduy N-Plant Unit 7 Project

Sofia, March 26 (BTA) - The main thing the Bulgarian Government
wants, so that the Kozloduy N-Plant Unit 7 Project is
implemented, is for Westinghouse to come as a strategic investor
who will participate with fresh financial resources in the
project and stay in it for as long as possible, Energy Minister
Temenouzhka Petkova told journalists here on Thursday during the
opening of an international conference on nuclear energy.

A main demand of Bulgaria is that no state guarantees are
required and that the financing is not provided at the expense
of this country's debt or deficit, Petkova noted. "Westinghouse
have been informed about our demands and I hope we get their
response soon," the Energy Minister said.

Petkova recalled that a contract was signed between the previous
government and Westinghouse, which is still to be confirmed by
the incumbents. The deadline for this is March 31 and
discussions with Westinghouse will continue until then, she
said.

"We have asked our partners from Westinghouse to participate in
the project with a 49 per cent share and corresponding
financing," Petkova explained.

Asked where Bulgaria will find the money to finance its 51 per
cent share, Petkova urged to first wait and see how the
negotiations with Westinghouse develop.

The Government's main priority in the nuclear energy sector is
to extend the lives of the Kozloduy N-plant's units 5 and 6,
which is going according to schedule, she said.

Deputy Chair of Parliament's Energy Committee Valentin Nikolov
said that according to Bulgaria's Energy Strategy for the period
ending 2020, which was adopted in 2010, Bulgaria should
construct 2,000 MW new nuclear capacities. It is now clear that
this can not happen by 2020 because of financial and economic
reasons, Nikolov explained. According to him, however, there are
options for constructing Kozloduy N-plant's unit 7. Electricity
prices have dropped to 70 leva per MW/h as a result of the
crisis, which is not an attractive price for nuclear projects.
If the lives of Kozloduy N-plant's units 5 and 6 are extended,
however, and they keep the low prices of the energy they
produce, their prices could be mixed with the price of energy
produced by unit 7 and thus make it competitive on the market,
he explained.