Sofia risks losing Russian support for nuclear plant

Bulgaria has until spring to decide on its participation in the Belene Nuclear Power Plant or risk losing Russian support for the project, a top nuclear official in Moscow said Thursday. Sergey Kiriyenko, CEO of the Russian state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, told Bulgarian media that if the deadline is not met, the Russian contractor on the project, Atomstroyexport, will redirect the equipment for the Belene NPP to another nuclear project and Moscow will refuse to become a shareholder in the Bulgarian plant. The future of the nuclear plant has been unclear since Bulgaria’s new government came into office in July 2009. The new cabinet moved to put the project on hold, reassessing the costs and potential benefits to the country. The project was frozen when several months later a key German investor, RWE, withdrew.

Since then, Sofia has been courting investors and debating the role that it plans to take in the plant.
Kiriyenko explained that Moscow demanded a 30-40 per cent stake in the project and would not agree to less than 25 per cent, during negotiations between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Bulgarian officials earlier this month. He added that there is still a chance that Belene NPP will not be realised, particularly if Moscow and Sofia are not able to agree on a price.

“Russia will not lower the Belene NPP price to €5 billion, as demanded by the Bulgarian government,” the Rosatom CEO said. He noted that the real price of the plant is at least €6.7 billion, but was lowered to €6.4 billion during the bilateral negotiations. “If Russia makes any more compromises in this direction, the project would be built at a loss,” Kiriyenko said. Explaining that the Belene has made progress and its equipment is ready, Kiriyenko warned that if Sofia delayed its decision on the project until after spring of 2011, the equipment would be given to another country – China or Turkey, and Bulgaria will have to pay much more if it reordered later.

“I am convinced of the profitability of the Belene project and we are ready to become 100 per cent shareholders in it, but I am not sure we will be allowed to,” he said, adding: "Negotiating with the Bulgarian government is very difficult. This is why there is a risk.” Kiriyenko will visit Sofia on November 30 to meet with Borisov and continue the negotiations about Belene NPP. The two are expected to discuss the exact price for the construction of the plant.

News source: BalkanInsight link: article