Bulgarian President Discusses Construction of New Nuclear Reactors with South Korean Hyundai E&C

Bulgaria's high-tech and investment partnership with South Korea may receive an additional boost with the expected construction of reactor units 7 and 8 at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), a project of national importance for Bulgaria. This was stated by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, as quoted by his press secretariat. 

He spoke with the management of Hyundai Engineering and Construction Co., Ltd (Hyundai E&C) during their visit to Sofia.

The South Korean company, which is a potential contractor for two new units of the Kozloduy NPP, presented its experience in the nuclear power industry as one of the leading companies building nuclear facilities.

The company's CEO, Yoon Young-Joon, said that Hyundai E&C was honoured to be selected as a partner of Kozloduy NPP. According to him, over the past 50 years, the company has been actively working not only on the construction of large nuclear power plants, but also small modular reactors. Hyundai E&C is also focusing on hydrogen production and has ambitions to expand its influence globally. He said that in projects outside South Korea, the main principle is to achieve national contribution through localisation of operations.

Kozloduy NPP, the only commercial nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, is located in the north-west of the country on the Danube River and provides about 34% of the country's electricity. It already operates two 1,000 MW Russian-designed VVER units and four older VVER units that have been permanently shut down. The two Russian-designed units currently in operation have undergone refurbishment and life extension programmes to enable them to operate for 60 years.

Bulgaria plans to build two Westinghouse-supplied AP1000s at Kozloduy, but has not yet finalised financing details for the project, which the American Nuclear Society says could cost $13 billion (€12.1 billion). According to other reports, Sofia expects the cost of the two-unit Kozloduy expansion to not exceed $14 billion.