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Russia Hopes To Sign Belene NPP Contract This Year
Zagreb (RIA Novosti) Jun 25, 2007 President Vladimir Putin said Sunday Russia is hoping to sign a contract this year on construction of a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, as part of cooperation with the Balkan countries in the energy sector. In October 2006, Russia's nuclear equipment export monopoly Atomstroyexport won a tender to build a nuclear power plant in Belene. The Balkan state wants to build a second NPP in Belene, 250 kilometers (about 150 miles) from the capital, Sofia, and to modernize the Kozloduy NPP in the north of the country. "Atomstroyexport has won a tender to build the Belene NPP in Bulgaria. We hope the contract will be signed this year," Putin said at the Balkan energy summit in Croatian capital, Zagreb. At the end of November last year, Atomstroyexport and Bulgaria's National Electric Company signed a $5.3 billion deal that covers the first phase of the project, involving a detailed examination of facilities and the development of engineering design plans. The second stage, to begin immediately after the general contract is signed, will provide for a whole range of construction, assembly and launch activities on the site. The contract will outline the project's implementation terms and its schedule. The Bulgarian National Energy Corporation will finance the construction. Atomstroyexport is currently building five nuclear power plants in China, India and Iran, under contracts worth a total of $4.5 billion.
earlier related report The Balkan energy summit in the capital of Croatia will focus on regional energy cooperation and construction of a pan-European oil pipeline, which is expected to connect oil-producing countries in the Caspian region with Europe, bypassing the Bosphorus Straits. Putin, who is invited to attend the forum as a special guest, will meet with 10 heads of state from the Balkan region - Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Slovenia, and Serbia. "The participation in a summit on energy cooperation in southeastern Europe is a continuation of our systemic efforts to explain our plans, intentions and to promote our capabilities," Sergei Prikhodko said early Sunday. "We would like to demonstrate Russia's readiness to be more involved in economic development of Balkan countries," he said. The importance of the Balkans as an energy transit hub is on the rise, and Russia is seeking to maintain its dominance as a key energy supplier to European customers, offering a number of transit projects in an attempt to prevent the European Union from creating alternative routes. Russia and Italy signed Saturday a memorandum on the construction of a new natural gas pipeline from Russia to Europe across the Black Sea. The memorandum was signed in Rome by representatives of Russian energy giant Gazprom and Italy's ENI in the presence of Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko and Italian Economic Development Minister Pierluigi Bersani. The pipeline, which will be called South Stream, will stretch for 900 km (560 miles) across the Black Sea from Russia to Bulgaria at a maximum depth of over 2 km (over 1 mile). Speaking at a press conference in Rome, Alexander Medvedev, Gazprom's deputy CEO, said the new pipeline's estimated annual capacity will be about 30 billion cubic meters. "This [the memorandum] is another real step in the implementation of Gazprom's strategy to diversify routes of Russian natural gas supplies to European countries and a considerable contribution to the energy security in Europe," Medvedev said.
Source: RIA Novosti Email This Article
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Tokyo (AFP) Jun 22, 2007Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said Friday it and France's Areva have jointly bid for a multi-million-dollar research and development project on a US nuclear fuel cycle program. The United States is set to resume building nuclear power plants after a gap of more than two decades amid growing concern about high oil prices and greenhouse gas emissions. |
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