South Korea’s Hyundai E&C has opened an office in Bulgaria and has contracted a Bulgarian company to work on the project to build new units at the Kozloduy NPP. We are fulfilling an important stage of this historical endeavour”, said Hyundai E&C President and CEO Yong Jun Yun
In February, Bulgaria and the US signed a formal agreement to collaborate on the construction of Kozloduy units 7&8. While the units are to have Westinghouse AP1000 reactors, Westinghouse will not take part in the construction but will retain overall control of the project. Hyundai E&C was shortlisted for the EPC contract, which was signed earlier in November.
Currently, Kozloduy NPP operates two Soviet-built VVER-1000 reactors (units 5&6). Bulgaria was obliged to close four older VVER-440 units as a condition for accession to the European Union, even though the units had undergone significant safety upgrades. According to the schedule, Kozloduy unit 7 should be operational in 2035 followed by unit 8 two years later.
Just a few hours after the signing of the EPC contract Hyundai E&C initialled a contract with key Bulgarian contractor Glavbolgarstroy at the new Hyundai building in Sofia. ” We have made a commitment to expand our activities in Bulgaria, said Yong Jun Yun. Our goal is to build a regional centre for Europe, while contributing to the economic and industrial development of Bulgaria and promoting mutual economic growth.” He added that Bulgaria will play a vital role in Hyundai’s global strategy. “We will improve the technical capabilities of our local partners and we will develop good professionals with which to actively enter the European nuclear market.”
Kalin Peshov, Chairman of the Board of Glavbolgarstroy Holding said Bulgaria has been waiting for the construction of new nuclear facilities for 20 years. “It is symbolic that exactly 50 years ago – in 1974 – the first nuclear reactor became operational in Bulgaria. It is significant that after so many decades we again have the opportunity to strengthen our country’s position on the nuclear map.”
The contract focuses on implementation of preparatory activities on the non-nuclear part of the project, namely on the construction of supporting infrastructure.
