Bulgaria extends for six months talks on selling Ukraine Russian nuclear reactors

This was reported by Euractiv, Ukrinform saw.

Authorities in Sofia received the reactors from Russia’s Atomstroyexport more than six years ago, but they were already unusable because the country had given up on building the Belene nuclear power plant.

The reactors are currently stored near Belene awaiting sale.

Bulgaria has been negotiating the equipment sale with Ukraine for almost two years, with parliament obliging the government to conclude the deal at a price of at least €600 million, the same as the Bulgarian National Electricity Company paid to Russia’s Atomstroyexport.

It is noted that experts from the Ukrainian nuclear plant operator Energoatom arrived in Bulgaria to inspect the equipment but Russia’s full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine affected the negotiation process.

Earlier this year, the European Commission acknowledged that a potential deal to sell Russian reactors could be financed with EU aid money to Ukraine.

As the BNR writes, during the allotted additional 180 days, the Bulgarian deputies plan to update the market assessment drafted last year and obtain the necessary approvals from Energoatom.

As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers tabled in the Verkhovna Rada the draft law on the location, design and construction of power units 3 and 4 of the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant.

According to the Ministry of Energy, the construction of two nuclear power units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP will increase annual electricity generation by 16,226 million kWh, and commissioning – by 15,415 million kWh.

Currently, two power units with a nominal capacity of 1,000 MW each operate at the Khmelnytskyi NPP. Construction of power unit 3 at the KhNPP began in September 1985, and unit 4 – in June 1986. Both are designed for a capacity of 1,000 MW, with a VVER-1000/B-320 reactor unit. Despite the completion of unit 3 being at 75% and unit 4 – at 28%, in 1990, due to the moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants, the project was suspended.