Westinghouse Replaces Toshiba Corp as Strategic Investor in Bulgaria NPP Unit Construction

U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational engineering company Toshiba Corporation, will replace its parent company as a strategic investor in the construction of a new unit at Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy, the government in Sofia said.

In December Toshiba Corporation signed with state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) an agreement to open talks on the construction of a new unit at Kozloduy using the Westinghouse AP1000 technology.

Toshiba Corporation will continue to be a party to the agreement signed in December as, together with Westinghouse Electric Company, it will remain obliged to maintain contacts with export credit agencies with the purpose of supporting the project's financing, the government said in a press release on Wednesday.

The change of the strategic investor, which was made at the request of Toshiba and Westinghouse, was prompted by the fact that Westinghouse, as a provider of the technology for the construction of the new NPP unit, will be more efficient in the management of the organisational, technological, and financial issues during the negotiations, the government said. The move would open the way to structuring the project, it added.

In April, the CEO of the NPP operator, Ivan Genov, said the company was still holding talks with Westinghouse on the construction of the new unit. The two companies are expected to sign a contract on the first stage of the project in September after which actual works on preparing the site can begin, Genov said added at the time.

The decision to add a new unit at the Kozloduy site was taken by the Bulgarian government in April 2012.

The Kozloduy NPP remained with two operational reactors of 1,000 MW each after the country closed down four units of 440 MW each to address nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to its accession to the bloc. Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.

Westinghouse Electric Company is a group company of Toshiba Corporation.

Source: SeeNews