Bulgaria, Hyundai E&C to hold talks for new units at Kozloduy NPP

The decision was approved in a 112-29 vote with 82 abstentions in the 240-seat National Assembly, the parliament said in its decision published on Friday.

Hyundai E&C is the only candidate shortlisted out of five applicants in a procedure for expressions of interest to construct Unit 7 and Unit 8 at Kozloduy NPP.

The term to implement the assigned activities is 60 months from the start of construction for Unit 7 and 54 months for Unit 8.

In its negotiations with Hyundai E&C, project company Kozloduy NPP-New Build will seek at least 30% localisation of the assigned construction and design activities for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) stage, along with providing a fixed price for the entire scope of construction works. The engineering activities before the EPC contract should not exceed 200 million euro ($216.7 million), excluding VAT, and the contract should be completed within 12 months.

The first new AP1000 plant is slated to be operational before 2035, with Westinghouse overseeing the overall design authority while delegating responsibilities for the design of individual plant systems and buildings.

In December, the parliament approved a government proposal to allocate up to 1.5 billion levs ($830.9 million/766.9 million euro) to Kozloduy NPP for the construction of two new reactors using the AP1000 technology. Earlier this month, Bulgaria's energy minister Rumen Radev said he expects the two reactors to cost up to $14 billion in total.

Kozloduy, Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant, currently operates two Russian-designed VVER-1000 reactors of 1000 MW each, with their operational licences set to expire in 2027 and 2029, respectively.

($ = 0.9230 euro)