OREANDA-NEWS. March 18, 2011. In Sofia (Bulgaria), a briefing was held in the framework of the Forum of Nuclear Industry Suppliers Atomex-Sofia. Kirill Komarov, the Director of the Directorate of the Nuclear Power Complex of the State Atomic Energy Corporation ROSATOM and Director of Atomenergoprom OJSC, was speaking at the briefing.
 
According to Komarov, safety systems comprise about 40% of the nuclear power plant cost. “Belene NPP, which we are building in Bulgaria, meets up-to-date safety requirements. The plant is designed so that it will withstand a crash of 400-ton aircraft and temperatures varying from minus 57 up to plus 60 Celsius. The plant site is ready for construction, and the project can be implemented there within shortest time possible,” he emphasized.
 
Komarov noted that the site met all conditions in terms of regional seismic conditions. “We are building ten nuclear power plant and bear responsibility for the technical reliability of each of them to all international standards,” he added.
 
“We have analyzed a possibility of shifting construction of the reactor on the Kozloduy site and we think that this will delay construction for two-three years, at least. It is early to speak about price, but it is evident that it will substantially higher, because on the Belene site there is infrastructure, investments have been made, while at Kozloduy there is nothing of the kind,” he said.
 
Answering a question concerning possible refusal from the construction, Komarov said: “If it is to abandon the Belene site, the funds which have been put in by the Bulgarian Government and Bulgarian people, will be irrecoverably lost. The matter is up to one billion euro. As of today, negotiations are underway between Atomstroyexport JSC and NEC of Bulgaria, and I hope that necessary agreements will be reached by the end of March.”
 
In his address, Vice President of Atomstroyexport JSC Gennadi Tepkyan said that the project, to which Belene is to be built, had sufficient references as to the equipment and systems in use and architectural and building solutions. The technologies being applied are supported by more than 1,400 reactor-years of NPPs with VVER reactors and verified by successful full-scale experiments. Thereat, the Belene NPP project ensures much higher level of safety as compared to earlier NPP projects; this is a Generation 3+ project.
 
The forum is organized by Atomexpo LLC and Bulatom and supported by Bulgarian-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
 
The main objective of the event is to study into capabilities of Bulgarian suppliers as regards implementation of NPP construction to Russian technologies.
 
The forum is participated by more than 200 delegates who represent over 80 leading European companies, such as Altran, AREVA, NUKEM, Siemens, Worley&Parsons, Wolf Theiss, Bulgarian Energy Holding, Kozloduy NPP, National Electricity Company of Bulgaria, as well as largest Bulgarian nuclear engineering companies. Russia is represented by the ROSATOM, Atomstroyexport JSC, Atomenergoproekt OJSC, Rosenergoatom Concern OJSC, Project Company for Construction of Akkuyu NPP in Turkey, SPb AEP JSC, TVEL JSC and other.