- Bulgaria to give Belene another go and multiple bidders show up
- Rosatom postpones work on BN-1200 Fast Reactor
- Russia plans for SMRs in far northeast based on ice breaker reactor design
Bidders Off and Running for Belene $11 Billion Contract
(WNN) Bulgaria has received 13 applications for participation in the Belene nuclear power project, the country’s energy minister announced last week. The applicants included seven to be a strategic investor, four to be an electricity customer and/or minority shareholder, and two to be an equipment supplier.
Bulgaria’s Belene nuclear project remains a work in progress(WNN)
According to Reuters, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova told reporters in Sofia: “There has been a lot of skepticism whether there will be interest at all for the project. With the applications we got this is no more, because these include some of the global leaders in nuclear energy.”
Bulgaria’s energy minister is right about that because the question is this – who wants to finish a partially built pair of Russian 1000 MW VVER with Rosatom as the EPC? The Belene NPP construction project in northern Bulgaria includes construction of two 1000 MWe units, each using the Russian VVER-1000/V-466 design.
The Belene Nuclear Power Plant is a planned nuclear power plant 3 km from Belene and 11 km from Svishtov in Pleven Province, northern Bulgaria, near the Danube River just south of Bulgaria’s border with Romania.. It was intended to substitute four VVER-440 V230 reactors of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant that were decommissioned as a prerequisite for Bulgaria to join the European Union.
Bulgaria ordered the two Russian reactors for Belene in 2008, but the project was cancelled in 2012 because of financial and political considerations. In June 2018, the government formally revived the project following a vote in parliament.
A 2016 arbitration settlement awarded Bulgaria most of the nuclear equipment, worth about $600M, which had already been produced by Russia for Belene under the 2008 agreement. Bulgarian officials said that if the Belene project goes forward Russia’s Atomstroyexport will be the main contractor.
The seven firms who have expressed an interest in being a strategic investor are:
- China National Nuclear Corporation;
- Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co;
- Rosatom through Atomenergoprom;
- a consortium including Czech firm Vitkovice Heavy Machinery;
- two Bulgaria-registered bidders, Belene NPP and Belene Nuclear Power Plant 2019;
- a Germany-registered company ‘Bektron-Liaz-Engineering’.
One Bulgarian company, Grand Energy Distribution, is reported to be interested in having a minority stake and also a power purchase agreement, a second, Atomenergoremont, in a minority stake only and a third, European Trade of Energy, in a power purchase agreement only. In addition, North Macedonia has expressed an interest in a minority stake and long-term contracts to buy electricity from the Belene plant.
Separately, General Electric said it is interested in providing equipment, including steam generastors, for the project. Early media reports incorrectly listed GE as a potential bidder on the project as a whole. Framatome has previously indicated interest in being an investor, but not as a main contractor.
After an evaluation of proposals, shortlisted candidates will then be asked to file binding bids for the project which Bulgaria estimates will cost about $11 billion. The energy ministry said it hopes to complete the selection process to select the winner of the bid process by May 2020.
In a move that will surely make the project more financially challenging, the goverment said it will not provide state or corporate guarantees nor offer to buy electricity from the plant under long-term contracts with preferential rates. The government has said it will have a majority stake in the project, which it expects to be complete by 2030.
History of Western Firms in Bulgaria’s Nuclear Program
Burlgaria was behind Russia’s iron curtain until 1991 when the then Communist government collapsed in response to a general strike. Bulgaria joined he European Union in 2007. Historically, Russia has regarded Bulgaria’s nuclear energy plants as a captive market and has thwarted efforts by western firms to bid on projects there.
In 2012 Westinghouse signed a contract to prepare a proposal for a third reactor at Bulgaria’s Kozloduy site. Efforts by the firm to take over construction of the plant came to an end when Russia said has no intention of sharing information with Westinghouse regarding a feasibility study. That project is designed to scope out the potential for a seventh unit at Bulgaria’s Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.
In 2010 Westinghouse reportedly told the US Embassy in Sofia that the 1st unit was “a lemon” according to a US State Department Cable as reported by the UK Guardian newspaper. The embassy cable, dated February 17, 2009, also complained about endemic corruption in Bulgaria associated with the project.
In 2016 the former Bulgarian energy minister and two executives of the state owned national electric utility were indicted over alleged illegal activities inolving the disputed sale of equipment ordered for the original construction of the plant. The defendants denied the charges and said they were brought by state prosecutors for “political reasons.”
Rosatom Postpones BN-1200 Fast Reactor Project
(WNN) Rosenergoatom is expected to receive about RUB280 billion (USD$4 billion) less in state funding for the construction of new nuclear reactors in Russia owing to the postponement of its fast neutron reactor program according to Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Russia has pushed back the construction and startup date of the biggest of its planned fast reactors which is the BN-1200. (Technical briefing – PDF file) The plant is now expected to be commissioned at the Beloyarsk plant between 2031 and 2035 which is a significant delay from prevoiusly announced project milestones. The original commissioning date was 2017. The Russian nuclear engineering company OKBM Afrikantov, a subsidiary of Rosatom, is developing the BN-1200 as a next step towards future reactor designs, commonly known as Generation IV.
Conceptual design image of the BN-1200 and one of its fuel elemenets. Image Source: Russian Construction Feb 2017.
Smaller Fast Reactors Completed and Now Online
The BN-800 fast neutron reactor – constructed as unit 4 of the Beloyarsk plant in the Sverdlovsk district – entered commercial operation in October 2016. The 789 MWe unit’s capacity exceeds that of the world’s second most powerful fast reactor – the 560 MWe BN-600 Beloyarsk 3. According to the Kommersant article, the capital expendture of the BN-800 amounted to RUB140.6 billion (USD $2.1 billion).
Russia Plans Small Modular Reactors for Far Northeast Region
(WNN) Rosatom has signed an agreement with the Yakutia regional government to investigate building a number of small reactors in Yakutia’s remote areas. The small modular reactors would be 50 MWe RITM-200M units, similar to those now being commissioned in the latest LK-60 Russian icebreakers.
The SMRs will be adapted for land-based or floating power plants and use fuel enriched to less than 20% U-235. These units will have a ten-year refuelling cycle and are significantly smaller but more powerful than earlier icebreaker and floating NPP reactors. Rosatom said that serial production of these reactors could start within six years. Previous versions of the reactors in Russian ice breakers used highly enriched uranium at 35% U235.
Separately, the Akademik Lomonosov, a floating nuclear power plant, was late last month towed out of Murmansk to begin a 4,700 km voyage to its base in Pevek, an Arctic port town in the country’s far northeastern autonomous district of Chukotka. The region juts out into the Bering Sea and is the Russian land mass that is visible from Alaska. Rosatom says the ship is ready to provide power to its customer on arrival.
Cutaway digram of the Akademik Lomonosov. Imge: IAEA
The 21,000-tonne vessel has two Russian-designed KLT-40S reactor units (IAEA ARIS DBMS entry) with an electrical power generating capacity of 35 MW each. Both reactors achieved their first criticality in November 2018. The reactor also is fueled by uranium fuel at less than 20% U235 to met international standards and to fit with plans for export of the design as a free standing SMR.
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