Bulgarians do not agree with Westinghouse

AtomInfo.Ru, PUBLISHED May 12, 2010

The U.S. "Westinghouse" is trying to penetrate the market of nuclear fuel in Bulgaria, but has not yet met an understanding of Bulgarian nuclear scientists, the newspaper Duma said.

Director of NPP "Kozloduy" Dimitar Angelov told the media that "Westinghouse" tried to break into the Bulgarian market with fuel for Russian reactors on units ##5-6 of the plant. The U.S. trade representatives were managers of Swedish plant belonged to American company.

This is a long history with the continuation, the newspaper said. Back in 2001 one of the leaders of "Westinghouse" Michael Comiskey said: "We care about every possible fuel supply. If the Kozloduy NPP will announce a tender to select fuel supplier, the" Westinghouse "will participate in it."

The former station director Yordan Kostadinov affirms: "When I was CEO of nuclear power plants, certain forces pressed on me by raising the fuel in the U.S. The American experts came, made calculations and found that improvement will be worth $200 million. We have proposed share the costs, but the Americans refused."

According Kostadinov, American fuel is not suitable for VVER-1000, because it is not intended for it.

Dimitar Angelov confrims, referring to the experience of the Czech Republic at the NPP Temelin. The CEZ group tried to use U.S. fuel instead of Russian one. This caused many problems, and ultimately CEZ was forced prematurely terminate the contract signed with the Americans.

During his last trip to Bulgaria, the Americans claimed that they were able to improve the production of fuel for VVER-1000 at Swedish plants. But the skepticism of Bulgarians is not overcome. "We have shown only an analysis and evaluation of results without experimental evidence," - says Angelov.

Director of the Kozloduy NPP believes that at this stage there is no need to restrain the Russian fuel rods. The plant runs the Russian fuel is a new project, but already there are suggestions for further improvement.

If we talk about the cost, in Bulgaria, Russian fuel come at a price close to that, which the Russians offer Ukraine and other countries. "Do not think that fuel from "Westinghouse" is cheaper," - Angelov warns.

"In the spring we will discuss the new fuel prices, but the contract with the fuel elements after winning a tender is valid until 2020" - recalled the director.

At the same time, Bulgarians do not reject outright from contact with the Americans. Ministry of Economy and Energy of the country to invite the Americans to conclude with a confidentiality agreement, and then organize a visit of Bulgarian specialists at Swedish plants of "Westinghouse". According to Angelov, it can be considered as a back-up fuel supply.

Topics: NFC, Westinghouse, East Europe, Bulgaria

---

Other news:

The tender leaves in the sky

The Temelin tender promises to be the most fun of all tenders for the construction of nuclear facilities.

Russia says Bushehr nuclear power plant to start work on schedule

The launch has been set for the end of the summer.

Obama resubmits with Congress U.S.-Russia peaceful nuclear deal

The situation in North Caucasus and Georgia no longer obstructs the agreement.

---

---

---

---

Search: