Kozloduy NPP and Westinghouse Electric Company LLC agreed on the project
On July 31, 2014 were reached the agreement between “Kozloduy NPP – New facilities” JSC, “NPP Kozloduy” and “Westinghouse Electric Company” LLC on the project “Construction of a new nuclear capacity – Unit 7 at Kozloduy NPP site”. “The agreement is signed. It will however only enter into force if approved by the next government,” said Ivan Genov, chief executive of Kozloduy nuclear plant.
Negotiations on the shareholders agreement were carried out in the period January – July 2014. Shareholders’ agreement shall enter into force after final approval by the next government, which should be accompanied by a financial model and an EPC contract for design, engineering, procurement and construction of the new nuclear power unit. Among other preconditions are: an Approval of Environmental Impact Assessment Report by the Minister of Environment and Water, the Council of Ministers of Bulgaria Decision under Art. 45 of the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy Act and all relevant permits, required by the European Union’s and Bulgaria’s rules.
The signed Agreement provides shareholding in the project company – “Kozloduy NPP – New facilities” EAD – to be as follows: Westinghouse, the world’s largest nuclear fuel producer and part of Japan’s Toshiba group, will take a 30 percent stake in Kozloduy NPP – New Build, the rest 70% will be kept by “NPP Kozloduy”.
The project is intended to be financed mainly by export credit agencies with proven expertise in the Bulgarian energy sector, as well as by other internationally well-established instruments. The project development is divided into separate stages and investment decisions for each stage depend on the implementation of key preconditions, such as national and European legal requirements, financial and business conditions, etc.
Only after the implementation of these preconditions and strong financial commitment the equipment shall be ordered and the construction activities shall be carried-out. The state guarantees and long-term contracts for the purchase of electricity are not a subject to the signed Shareholders Agreement. An open international tender is expected for selection of a main contractor of a new nuclear capacity, announced Kozloduy NPP in today‘s newsrelease.
Westinghouse Electric Company today also announced that it has signed a shareholder agreement following consultations with all Bulgarian political parties for the expansion of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. This and subsequent agreements will be subject to future government oversight. In the agreement, the Westinghouse AP1000® nuclear power plant was selected by Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD (BEH EAD), Kozloduy NPP plc and Kozloduy NPP-New Builds plc. These parties entered into exclusive talks in December 2013, following a feasibility study.
Westinghouse will provide all of the plant equipment, design, engineering and fuel. Within the next year, Westinghouse will issue a competitive tender, in line with European Union (EU) and Bulgarian public procurement rules, for the plant construction. This process is expected to involve Bulgarian and global construction companies.
The AP1000 reactor is projected to be online by 2023, and is zero-carbon baseload power that meets EU and Bulgarian requirements of competitive and low-carbon energy for the following 60 years.
“We are pleased to take this next significant step with Bulgarian Energy Holding and Kozloduy NPP to provide Bulgaria and Europe with the globally-recognized, most advanced technology, the AP1000 nuclear plant design,” said Danny Roderick, Westinghouse president and CEO.
Mr. Roderick added: “The AP1000 nuclear power plant will offer a unique combination of benefits to Bulgaria: unequalled safety, licensing and project certainty, job creation through sustainable localization and technology and fuel diversification, in line with EU policies and objectives. There are no other alternatives that deliver all of these important objectives and on this scale. The AP1000 reactor will create over 20,000 direct and indirect jobs in Bulgaria, as well as sustain jobs in the United States. The project also will facilitate dozens of Bulgarian-U.S. commercial nuclear and other manufacturing partnerships, and establish permanent academic and technology sharing and development.”
The agreement is the latest demonstration that the AP1000 reactor is the technology of choice for the nuclear sector in Europe and globally, according to Westinghouse pressrelease.
Westinghouse Electric Company, a group company of Toshiba Corporation (TKY:6502), is the world’s pioneering nuclear energy company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world’s first pressurized water reactor in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa., U.S. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world’s operating nuclear plants, including more than 50 percent of those in Europe. AP1000 is a trademark of Westinghouse Electric Company LLC.
Kozloduy NPP-New Builds plc is a subsidiary of Kozloduy NPP plc. Kozloduy NPP-New Builds plc was formed specifically for the purpose of undertaking the expansion of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.
Kozloduy NPP plc (KNPP) is a subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD. KNPP has over 40 years of experience in building and safely operating nuclear power plants in Bulgaria. KNPP currently operates two VVER-1000 units, providing over one-third of Bulgaria’s electricity supply.
