During a special press conference the energy minister Temenujka Petkova informed that the National Electric Company (NEC) has to pay 550 million euros to the Russian company Atomenergoeksport for the lost arbitrage regarding the canceled Bulgarian project NPP Belene. The lawsuit was initiated by the Russian side during 2011 and was originally for 58 million euros but after the project was canceled by the Bulgarian government the amount of the lawsuit raised to 1.2 billion euros including: already ordered equipment, maintenance of Belene area, omitted benefits, manufacturing expenses and others. The court of international arbitration in Geneva has approved the claims of Atomenergoeksport for 550 million euros. According to minister Petkova this is only the cost for the already manufactured equipment and the expenses for its manufacturing.
After paying to Atomenergoeksport, NEC will receive the equipment for the two nuclear reactors, designed for NPP Belene. But due to the cancelation of the project in 2012 the reactors won’t be installed and within the next weeks the government will decide what to do with them. As a discussed option among the politicians is reselling the equipment to other countries that are building Nuclear power plants with similar technology such as India, Iran, Jordan.
Moreover, minister Petkova stated on air of Nova TV that the price of the electricity won’t increase due to the arbitrage decision on Belene case, because NEC is actually receiving an asset, not an obligation. According to her there is no real loss from the arbitrage decision.