The contract was signed by the executive director of Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEC), Lyubomir Velkov, and Sergei Shmatko, the president of Atomstroyexport, whose subcontractors are France's Framnatome and Germany's Siemens.

The new nuclear plant, which will be Bulgaria's second and will produce 2,000 megawatts, will cost just under 4.0 billion euros (526 billion dollars), the NEC said.

A consortium of Areva and Siemens will provide security equipment, control mechanisms, electric systems and parts of the heating and ventilation systems for the plant, the NEC added.

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