Energy Commission: The caretaker government to negotiate with the US on the construction of a new nuclear power plant at the Kozloduy site

Council of Ministers (Council of Ministers) to hold negotiations with the US government for the conclusion of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the construction of a new nuclear power plant at the Kozloduy NPP with AP1000 technology (unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP). This is stated in the draft decision taken by the Energy Committee of the National Assembly with 10 votes "for", 2 against and 7 "abstentions". In particular, it is a question of negotiations between the company "New Powers" and "Westinghouse".

According to the decision, the Council of Ministers, through the Minister of Energy, must take all necessary actions by March 1, 2023 for the construction of an energy facility - a nuclear power plant for the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA)-approved site number 2 - block 7 of the Kozloduy NPP. One of the reasons for the decision is the risk of losing the obtained EIA for block 7.

In this regard, and considering that two energy blocks are being built everywhere in the world, it is envisaged that the Council of Ministers will take all necessary actions to start the licensing procedure and the EIA procedure for the construction of a second identical block on the site approved by the NRA (block 8 of Kozloduy NPP).

The Council of Ministers must also make a decision to declare the energy object - a nuclear power plant as an "object of national importance" in the sense of the Law on Territorial Planning and as a "national object" in the sense of the Law on State Property.

During the discussion, the Minister of Energy explained that our country already has an agreement on activities in the nuclear energy sector with the US government and suggested that the negotiations for new capacity at the site of the 7th unit of the Kozloduy NPP should be conducted between the company "New Powers" and Westinghouse to reach an agreement.

Previously, during the meeting of the energy commission, in response to a question from BSP deputy Dragomir Stoynev for an opinion, the Minister of Energy Rosen Hristov stated that on January 17 this year, a draft of the "Energy Strategy of Bulgaria" will be presented. It states that Bulgaria needs to build four new nuclear reactors - two at the Belene site and two at the Kozloduy NPP site (7th and 8th units). Minister Hristov stated that our country should strive to build 4,000 megawatts of nuclear power and should not limit itself in technology. Therefore, as he expressed it, our country should not limit itself and should negotiate with all leading companies such as "Westinghouse, EDF, and not only with the US government. He drew attention to the turning of a number of countries to nuclear energy, including and Sweden's ambition to build four blocks.

During the talks in the parliamentary energy committee, Georgi Samandov from Bulgarian Rise launched the idea of our country's participation in a plant for the construction of modules with a certain percentage, following the example of participation in the LNG terminal in Alexandroupolis.