MOSCOW, November 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly, Atomstroiexport, said Wednesday it will sign a deal soon to build a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.
Atomstroiexport won a tender October 30 to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors for the NPP in Belene, about 150 miles from the country's capital, Sofia.
"Late in November, approximately November 30, a preliminary contract for the construction of the Belene NPP will be signed, and a general contract is expected to be concluded in June-August 2007," said Vladimir Parygin, head of the company's department for international construction projects.
The NPP's first unit is scheduled to go online by 2011, and the second in 2013.
Atomstroiexport Director General Sergei Shmatko said the company's win at the tender marked Russia's breakthrough on the world nuclear power engineering market.
"The NPP in Belene is a European project, which will be implemented in the European Union under the control of European supervisory bodies and in which Russia will play a leading role," he said.
Atomstroiexport implements intergovernmental agreements to build nuclear facilities abroad. It is the world's only company simultaneously building five nuclear power units, in China, India and Iran.
