Bulgaria delays deadline for Belene nuclear project bids

CNNC International

22/03/2020 11:56

SOFIA, March 22 (Reuters) - Bulgaria will give more time for
shortlisted investors to file binding bids for its Belene
nuclear power project after measures over the coronavirus
outbreak have limited access to the project's data room, the
energy minister said on Sunday.
    Russia's Rosatom, China's CNNC  2302.HK  and Korea Hydro &
Nuclear Power Co  015760.KS  had to file their offers to invest
in the estimated 10 billion euro ($10.7 billion) project by the
end of April.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N28T3RP
    French energy company EDF's  EDF.PA  Framatome and U.S.
group General Electric  GE.N , which had both offered to provide
equipment for the 2,000 megawatt project and arrange financing,
will also be part of the process.
    "At the moment we cannot provide access to the data room for
the project. So we would have to extend the deadline for filing
bids until we can grant such access," Energy Minister Temenuzhka
Petkova said. "It would mean a delay of a month, month and a
half."
    She added that all shortlisted bidders remain interested.
    Sofia has revived the Belene project to make use of two
nuclear reactors it bought for more than 620 million euros from
Rosatom in compensation for scrapping the original project in
2012. It plans to have the project operational in 10 years.
($1 = 0.9351 euros)

 (Reporting by Tsvetelia Tsolova
Editing by David Goodman)
 ((tsvetelia.tsolova@thomsonreuters.com; +359-2-93-99-731;))