Rosatom announced on Thursday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with the French company Framatome and the American company GE Steam Power, according to which the three companies will work together to participate in the tender for the construction of the nuclear power plant in Belene (Bulgaria), according to Reuters, quoted by Agerpres.

Previously, Rosatom, Framatome SAS and General Electric were selected from the shortlist of five companies that had to bid for this project, estimated at 10 billion euros by the end of April. But the Bulgarian authorities have decided to give investors more time to submit binding bids for the Belene nuclear power plant project.

According to the memorandum of understanding announced on Thursday, Rosatom will be the strategic investor in the Belene plant project, General Electric will be a partner for the supply of turbines, and Framatome, a subsidiary of the EDF group, will provide control systems for Bulgaria’s new nuclear power plant.

With two new 1,000-megawatt reactors to be built in Belene, Bulgaria wants to replace four old Soviet-made nuclear power plants at the Kozloduy plant, which were closed more than a decade ago due to security concerns. Two Soviet – made nuclear reactors, put into operation in 1987 and 1991, are still operational at the Kozloduy plant.