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Rosatom likely to have good changes in Belene NPP tender, says Lavrov

In 2006, Atomstroyexport, an affiliate of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom, won an international tender for the construction of two power units at the Belene plant

MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. The Russian state-run corporation Rosatom is expected to have good changes in the tender to resume construction of the Belene nuclear power plant (NPP), Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday at a joint press conference after talks with his Bulgarian counterpart Ekaterina Zaharieva.

"Rosatom ready to participate in qualification procedures for a contractor to restart construction of the Belene NPP. "We expect our state-owned corporation will have good changes, considering that it is the producer of nuclear reactors and the developer - proprietor of technologies in this project," Lavrov said.

In 2006, Atomstroyexport (an affiliate of the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom) won an international tender for the construction of two power units at the Belene plant. The required equipment was delivered to the site, but in 2009 the project was halted. In March 2012, Sofia abandoned plans to build a two-unit Belene nuclear power plant with capacity of 2 GW. The government of Bulgaria, which at that time was headed by current Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, announced the termination of the project.

On May 12, 2018, Borisov said that the country intends to resume the construction of the nuclear power plant. The tender for NPP construction was announced in 2019. The strategic investor qualification procedure was published on May 22 of this year. The procedure is to be completed in 12 months from the publication date.

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