14 Nov (NucNet): Bulgaria is expecting to decide on investment in the Belene nuclear power station project by the end of 2019 at the earliest, local media said, quoting a report submitted by the energy minister to the council of ministers.
According to the Bulgarian daily Kapital, the report was approved by the cabinet and will now be forwarded to the national parliament for further discussion.
The procedure for selecting a strategic investor will comprise of nine stages, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova was quoted by Kapital as saying.
The first stage will include a call for expressions of interest and is scheduled to begin by the end of 2018, she said.
Kapital said the energy ministry’s report confirmed the government’s earlier intentions to attract private investment for the project, subject to there being no state guarantees or long-term electricity purchase contracts.
However, the report includes the possibility for large electricity consumers in Bulgaria or its neighbouring countries to offer long-term purchase contracts or to take a minority stake in the Belene project itself, Kapital said.
Last week, the ambassador of Montenegro said the western Balkan country was interested in taking a minority share in Belene.
In June 2018 the Bulgarian government decided to formally revive the Belene project following a vote in parliament a few weeks earlier.
Two 1,000-MW VVER pressurised water reactor units were to be built at Belene, in northern Bulgaria, before the project was cancelled in 2012 because of concerns over financing.
France’s Framatome, China’s CNNC, and Russia’s Rosatom have already formally expressed an interest in investing or providing equipment and services for the project.
