US-based Westinghouse Electric Company has signed of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) with seven Bulgarian suppliers to support the two-unit AP1000 expansion project planned at the Kozloduy NPP site. These agreements followed the second Westinghouse Bulgaria Supplier Symposium held earlier in May.
The MOUs establish the potential for supplying a variety of products and services including cranes, logistics and transportation, electrical and industrial equipment, instrumentation & control equipment, and pipes. The companies include Balkansko Echo EOOD, Bon Marine Ltd, Contragent 35 Ltd, El Kontrol EOOD, ELPROM Heavy Industries JSC, Kozloduy Ltd and Zekalabs Ltd.
Westinghouse has already signed MOUs with 30 Bulgarian suppliers to support the project. Westinghouse says the Kozloduy project will also provide Bulgarian firms the opportunity to support other AP1000 projects in Europe and globally.
Bulgaria plans to allocate up to BGN1.5bn ($860m) to Kozloduy NPP for the construction of two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors as units 7&8. Kozloduy NPP currently operates two Russian-designed VVER-1000 reactors. Their operational licences will expire in 2027 and 2029, respectively. Four older VVER-230 units were closed as a condition for Bulgaria to join the European Union, although they had been extensively modernised.
In 2024, the USA and Bulgaria signed an intergovernmental agreement to cooperate on the development of Bulgaria’s civil nuclear programme, including new units at Kozloduy. Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Westinghouse and Kozloduy NPP-New Builds signed an engineering contract in November 2024. Unit 7 is expected to begin operation in 2035 and unit 8 in 2037.
