A tender for a feasibility study for a new unit at Kozloduy nuclear power plant has attracted five bids, the plant's CEO said.
Bids were submitted by US-based Westinghouse, part of Toshiba, France's Areva - both individually and in a consortium with Mitsubishi, Australia's WorleyParsons, and Bulgaria's Risk Engineering, news agency SeeNews reported quoting the plant's CEO Valentin Nikolov.
The feasibility study should be completed within nine months after the contract is signed. The tender winner will also have to choose the site of the new unit.
An environmental impact assessment study will be launched in in September, Nikolov added.
The Bulgarian government decided earlier this year to add an additional 1,000 megawatt (MW) reactor at the Kozloduy site instead of building a new 2,000 MW power plant from scratch at Belene, also on the Danube. A project company for the construction of the new unit - Kozloduy NPP-New Capacity, was set up in May with an initial capital of 2.0 million levs ($1.26 million/1.02 million euro). It is fully owned by the Kozloduy nuclear plant.