Two projects that total $235.5 million to modernise the Kozloduy plant have recently been awarded to Framatome of France and to Russia’s Atomenergoexport.
Kozloduy provides almost half of Bulgaria’s electricity.
As part of the negotiations towards its European Union membership, Bulgaria has agreed that it will close the two oldest of its four 440MWe reactors by 2003, earlier than had been initially planned.
A final decision on the closure of the other two 440MWe units is due to be made by the end of 2002, but the government hopes to upgrade them and run them to the end of their projected life. The contracts, one worth $182.5 million and the other $53 million, are for upgrading the plant’s two 1000MWe reactors.
Westinghouse has also recently been awarded a $76 million deal to upgrade Kozloduy’s two 1000MWe reactors.
