Atomstroyexport has signed a contract with Areva for "Belene"
Adelina Marini, April 28, 2009
The Russian company "Atomstroyexport" has signed with "Areva" a contract for the period 2009-2010 for the preparation of documentation about the control and safety systems of "Belene" - the project for a second nuclear power station in Bulgaria, reported ITAR-TASS news agency. The agency quoted a report by "Atomstroyexport" which is the main executive of the project of the second Bulgarian nuclear power station.
According to the repot, the contract has been signed in spite the lack of a general contract or the necessary annexes to it. But the idea is not to let any freeze of the work. "Areva" is one of the main participants in the project, which together with Siemens have 20 % of the work over the projecting and the delivery of equipment for the station.
Today in Moscow Bulgaria has officially requested a loan for the building of the station. It is not clear what is the amount of the request but ITAR-TASS said it is for billion of euro and the necessary, at this stage, money, according to the estimations of the Bulgarian ministry of economy is 3.8 bn euro. Last week, during the energy summit in Sofia, the Russian energy minister Sergey Shmatko announced that there are negotiations for the loan but he said that an official request hadn't been filed yet. He also said that this project is of great importance for Russia and Moscow didn't want any freezing of work because this would lead to much greater losses. Shmatko added that the equipment for the station had already been ordered.