Belene Nuclear Power Plant

SOFIA, BULGARIA - China's Ambassador to Bulgaria Zhang Haizhou commented that the Belene Nuclear Power Plantproject should be implemented on a market-based basis and added that a multilateral co-operation is possible.

Prime Minister Boyko Borissov and Chairman of the State Council of China Li Keqiang have expressed satisfaction with the results achieved during their meetings in Sofia. This was announced by the press service of the Council of Ministers. They spoke before Li Keqiang's departure, who was on an official four-day visit to Bulgaria.

Parliament has decided to restart the project for the construction of Belene NPP. There are two versions for a solution, and MPs have decided on what was proposed by GERB.

The Bulgarian parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favour of dropping the moratorium on the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant, NPP.

A total of 172 out of 240 MPs supported the proposal by the ruling GERB party of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov which gives Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova the mandate to restart the process of seeking potential investors.

A protest against the restart of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant is being held before the National Assembly, BNR reports. The demonstration is organized by the newly formed right-wing Democratic Bulgaria formation, and the occasion is the scheduled for this week consideration of the proposal to abolish the moratorium on the construction of Belene NPP.

Four companies have deposited written notes expressing their interest in participating in a bid to construct the Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) as parliament is expected to vote by the end of this week to lift the moratorium on its construction, Vice-Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev said on Sunday.

After President Rumen Radev paved the way towards improved Bulgarian-Russian relations last week, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov will follow up by visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 30.

By the end of June, the Bulgarian Ministry of Energy must provide Russia with the various options for using the Belene NPP equipment. This is written in a summary of the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Bulgarian counterpart Rumen Radev in Sochi, according to Russian state news agency TASS, quoted by Actualno.com.

The Cabinet decided to lift the moratorium on the Belene NPP project and submit it for vote to the National Assembly, bTV reported.
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced today that the project will be brought back. The reason is that last week, representatives of China's National Nuclear Corporation announced they were interested in building Belene.

"Bulgaria should seek the opportunity about realization on a market principle and without a state guarantee of the Belene NPP. To start this process, a parliamentary mandate will be needed. " This was stated by the Minister of Energy Temenujka Petkova at the Atomexpo 2018 Forum in Sochi.