Bulgarian interim Minister of Energy Nikolay Pavlov said at the press conference that the first batch of equipment manufactured for the cancelled nuclear power plant Belene project by Russian company Atomstroyexport (ASE) has arrived to Bulgaria and it is currently awaiting customs clearance at the Belene port on the Danube.
In mid-June 2016, the Arbitration Court in Geneva has ruled that Bulgaria has to pay compensation to Russian company ASE over the cancelled project for the construction of nuclear power plant Belene. According to the ruling, Bulgaria was ordered to pay 550 million euros for the equipment which ASE produced for the plant, but the amount was raised to over 600 million euros. In late September, Bulgarian Parliament has approved a draft bill on granting financial for the payment of NEK’s and it will be primarily used in order to repay the company’s debt under the arbitration ruling on NPP Belene project. On 8 December, the debt to Atomstroyexport (601.6 million euros) over NPP Belene arbitration has been paid in full. According to the previous agreement with the Russian company, if the debt is paid before 15 December, NEK’s interest which amounted to 167,000 euros per day will be waived.
Full article available for subscribers of Energy NEWS service (PDF publications, energy news, analyses, power and trading data, tenders)
Subscription fee: 800 EUR annually – company licensed
Tags: arbitration, Atomstroyexport, Belene, Bulgaria, electricity, equipment, NPP