Construction of Unit 7 of Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant begins, Cabinet plans construction of Unit 8

The construction of the seventh unit of Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) starts, the eighth nuclear unit is being prepared. This was announced at the beginning of the weekly government meeting by Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov on October 25. According to him, a unique reactor technology has been chosen, which allows for a rapid change of the reactors' capacities. They will be supplied by the Westinghouse company. The construction of the seventh unit is due to be completed in 2033.

The Prime Minister described the decision as one of the most important for this cabinet. The final contract is with the selected contractor and the supplier of the AR1000 technology. The financing of the project will be capitalized with 500 million BGN additionally, and the negotiations with the companies that are to build the new unit 7 of the NPP will begin.

"With the same decision, preparations for the 8th unit of the Kozloduy NPP will begin, because the plan is for the two to run in parallel as construction and within two to three years both units, which are needed for the energy system, will be ready. Their total capacity is 2,300 megawatts, which significantly exceeds the 1,760 megawatts of the closed units 1 to 4. Furthermore, the technology that has been chosen on these reactors is unique in the world. It allows to change the power of the reactors twice in a very short period of time, which is extremely important for the stable management of the power system when they come into operation," said Nikolai Denkov.

The power plant will be built like the motorways, the President believes.

Speaking to journalists, Head of State Rumen Radev expressed doubts about the transparency of the project.

"Bulgaria should develop its nuclear energy. But for this process to be sustainable, effective and efficient, all possible options should be studied, analyzed and compared on a number of important parameters - location, licenses, safety and, above all, time and money for construction. This is not happening. Apparently, the NPP will be built like the motorways – in the dark," the President said.

"This is some kind of propaganda ploy that has nothing to do with the truth," was Prime Minister Denkov’s laconic response to Radev's words.

Reactions from Parliament

Delyan Dobrev of GERB described the government's decision as a step in the right direction, which is in fulfilment of a task assigned by the MPs. However, the MP also had remarks:

"I will give you an example - I think that the capital of this new company should not be 500 million, but 1 billion and 600 million to guarantee the work of this company in the next 3-4 years. This is the free money in the energy sector and we will insist that it be in the capital of the company so that it does not turn out in the end that finance minister Assen Vassilev has taken it. In recent years he stole 3 billion from the energy sector to tie up the budget," said Delyan Dobrev.

Radoslav Ribarski from “We Continue the Change” is not of this opinion. According to him, the capital increase will be key to completing the project.

Ivaylo Mirchev reminded that today's decision of the cabinet is a long-term commitment of WCC-DB and part of the country's energy strategy.

"It is extremely important that we insist on energy stability and Units 7 and 8 are part of exactly that and that they will happen by 2033 is a realistic deadline," he said.

Images by BTA