October 16 (SeeNews) - Rusatom Service, part of Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom, has signed a 24.7 million euro ($28.1 million) contract to upgrade the generator equipment of one of the units of Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP), Rosatom said on Friday.
The delivery timeframe of the core equipment for the NPP's Unit 5 is 500 days with all contracted upgrade activities expected to wrap up by May 2018, Rosatom said in a press release.
In 2013, the Kozloduy NPP said it had signed a contract for an undisclosed sum with Rusatom Service for the purchase of equipment and maintenance services for its Unit 6.
According to the press release, the modernisation of equipment at Unit 6 is still ongoing.
Similarly to Unit 6, the upgrade of Unit 5 equipment should provide nominal capacity of 1,100 MW versus 1,000 MW at present.
Earlier this month, Moscow-based media reported that Rusatom Service plans to take part in a tender for the expansion of the lifespan of the Kozloduy NPP's Unit 6.
In June, Bulgarian deputy energy minister Nikolay Nikolov said the Kozloduy NPP will upgrade Units 5 and 6, aiming to extend their lifespan and raise their capacity. The upgrade will cost a total of 360 million euro ($405.3 million), he added at the time.
The license for operation of Unit 6 of the nuclear power plant expires in 2019. The extension of its lifespan, and that of the NPP's other working unit - Unit 5, have been declared as priority for the Bulgarian government.
The Kozloduy NPP remained with two operational units of 1,000 MW each after the country closed down four units of 440 MW each to address nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to its accession to the bloc. Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.
($= 0.8790 euro)