September 15 (SeeNews) - Russia’s Atomstroyexport, hired to build Bulgaria’s Belene nuclear power plant, said the construction will cost 6.0 billion euro ($8.77 billion) in the worst-case scenario, state-run Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on Tuesday.
Bulgaria awarded the construction works to Atomstroyexport for 3.997 billion euro last year. To this sum the inflation in the different countries, which will produce the equipment for the plant, should be included, BTA quoted Atomstroyexport Vice President Gennady Tepkyan as saying.
According to recent Bulgarian media reports, however, the project for the country's second nuclear power plant would cost between 8.0 and 10.0 billion euro.
Atomstroyexport and Bulgaria have still not agreed on what inflation they will calculate for the project, Tepkyan said, adding that Bulgaria has disagreed to apply Russia's inflation for the equipment made in Russia. To address this disagreement, Atomstroyexport has proposed to use the average annual inflation for the 27 member states of the European Union as reported by the bloc's statistics office Eurostat but Bulgaria has not answered yet.
Construction works currently are 15 months behind schedule, Tepkyan said.
Belene is expected to help Bulgaria restore its position as leading energy exporter in Southeast Europe which it lost after closing down four Soviet-made reactors of 440 MW each at its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy earlier this decade under pressure from the European Commission. Kozloduy now operates its two remaining Soviet-made reactors of 1,000 MW each.
Bulgaria has attracted Germany’s RWE as strategic partner in the Belene project with a 49% stake. Bulgaria's Energy Minister Traycho Traykov said on Tuesday that the government is considering cutting its stake in the project to 20% from 51% and restructuring financing for it.
($=0.6841 euro)