Skip to main content
BBC NEWS / EUROPE
Graphics VersionBBC Sport Home
News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |
Tuesday, 31 October 2006, 11:09 GMT

Russia wins Bulgaria nuclear deal

Bulgaria map A Russian firm, Atomstroyexport, has won a contract to build a nuclear power plant by the River Danube in Bulgaria.

The two 1,000-megawatt reactors will cost 3.9bn euros (£2.6bn; $5.1bn).

The Russian firm, in which Russian energy giant Gazprom has a 49% stake, will work jointly with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens, Reuters reports.

The first unit at Belene is planned to be ready in six-and-a-half years. An earlier Belene project was frozen in 1991 amid environmental concerns.

Decommissioning

Both the Russian firm and a rival Czech consortium led by Skoda JS, had offered to use an existing 1,000 MW pressurised water reactor that Bulgaria had bought in the earlier Belene project.

But Bulgaria decided the older unit would not be used, Reuters reports.

Kozloduy plant An official at Russia's atomic power agency Rosatom told Russia's Itar-Tass news agency that "all characteristics of the project offered to Bulgaria are consistent with the norms and requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency".

The Belene plant will use two third-generation water-cooled VVER-1000 reactors.

Bulgaria, set to join the European Union in January, agreed to close four Soviet-designed reactors at a nuclear plant in Kozloduy. The two oldest reactors there have already been shut down.

Decommissioning of the old nuclear reactors was a condition for EU accession talks.

Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko said the Belene deal marked "Russia's return to the European market of nuclear technologies".




E-mail this to a friend
Related to this story:
Country profile: Bulgaria (30 Oct 06 |  Country profiles )
Bulgaria to build nuclear plant (03 May 04 |  Europe )
Bulgaria starts closing nuclear reactors (31 Dec 02 |  Europe )
Nuclear plant sours Bulgaria-EU ties (16 Jul 02 |  Europe )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Atomstroyexport
Kozloduy plant
Bulgarian government
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



SEARCH BBC NEWS: 

News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |

NewsWatch | Notes | Contact us | About BBC News | Profiles | History

^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©