Sofia Banks on Chinese-Russian Partnership at Belene

摘要

Bulgaria is rolling out the red carpet for Chinese and Russian nuclear officials in an attempt to secure an agreement for the construction of a long-mooted 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant in Belene. Government officials hope to give the general contract and turbine island orders to China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC), while control over all nuclear engineering aspects would go to Rosatom, the Russian supplier of the two VVER-1000s planned for the site. This Russian-Chinese pairing echoes similar cooperation on the Tianwan nuclear newbuilds in China, but at Belene it lacks a third side: the Bulgarians. Sofia does not want to provide any guarantees on either project financ- ing or on the purchase price of future output from the plant, and observers say this “hands-off” approach may be the greatest obstacle to any final deal.