German RWE signs nuclear plant deal

Germany's RWE AG signed a deal with Bulgaria's state-owned NEK power utility on Friday to become a strategic investor in the country's second nuclear plant.

At the signing ceremony, Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev hailed the project, saying that it would "guarantee Bulgaria's energy independence, electricity production and exports."

RWE outbid rival Belgian energy company Electrabel, owned by France's GDF Suez SA, for a 49-percent stake in Belene Power Company, which will own and operate the new nuclear power plant.

Gerd Jaeger, a senior official at RWE, said his company was in "active negotiations" with Electrabel to split the 49-percent stake in the nuclear plant.

The state-owned NEK power utility will hold the remaining 51 percent in the 2,000-megawatt plant. The plant's two reactors are expected to come into operation in 2013 and 2014, said NEK Chief Executive Lyubomir Velkov.

In January, Bulgaria signed a contract worth almost euro4 billion (US$5.6 billion) with Russia's Atomstroyexport to build a second nuclear plant at Belene, 250 kilometers (155 miles) northeast of Sofia.

Atomstroyexport will be the main contractor, using France's Areva and Germany's Siemens AG as primary subcontractors.

Bulgaria's government invested more than $1 billion in Belene, but froze the project in 1990 after environmentalists said it could pose a safety risk.

The project was revived to compensate for the closure of two units at its existing nuclear plant at Kozlodui. The closure was part of the requirements Bulgaria had to meet to join the European Union last year.

(Source: AP)

Germany's RWE Torn by Power Strife over Bulgaria's Nuclear Plant "Belene"

Germany's second largest energy concern RWE is torn by a struggle for power related to the company's participation in the construction of Bulgaria's Nuclear Power Plant Belene.

One of the main contention issues between the company Director Jürgen Großmann, and RWE's supervisory board is the future Belene plant because of environmental concerns, and because of its location in a zone with high seismic risk, the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

The main issue at stake in the company is the role that each of its bodies has to play in the approval of large investment projects such as RWE's participation in the Belene Plant.

During its session on Thursday, the supervisory board is expected to change its statutes so that it could have a more decisive role in approving large-scale project that are now approved by RWE's governing board.

The former Minister of Economy and Labor of Germany Wolfgang Clement, who is a member of the supervisory body of the subsidiary RWE Power, is quoted as saying the Belene Project had been prepared perfectly, and that many zones with nuclear facilities in the USA, Japan, and Korea had much greater earthquake risk than the lower Danube.

Meanwhile, the protests of German environmentalists against the Belene project are continuing, the umweltruf.de portal reported

RWE has won the tender of Bulgaria's National Electric Company NEK for the purchase of 49% of the future Belene Nuclear Power Plant for EUR 1,2 B.

NEK representatives stated they were currently negotiating with RWE the form of the shareholders' agreement, and that they were expecting that it would be signed on December 15.

(Source: Novinite)

Bulgaria urges RWE to approve Belene nuclear JV

Bulgaria urged German power utility RWE on Thursday to reject pressure from green activists and approve a deal to become a strategic investor in a planned 4.0 billion euro ($5.16 billion) nuclear power plant.

Deputy Energy Minister Yavor Kuyumdzhiev said Bulgaria will wait for RWE's supervisory board approval of the deal until the spring of 2009, when construction of the 2,000 megawatt Belene plant should start.

The Bulgarian government last month chose RWE to become a strategic partner in the Belene project with a stake of 49 percent. The project aims to restore the Balkan country's position as a leading exporter of power in Southeast Europe. It had initially hoped to sign the deal with RWE in October. [ID:nL3216869]

"We will wait for their decision until the spring," Kuyumdzhiev told reporters on the sidelines of an economic forum. "They will make a mistake if they do not enter (the) Belene (project) because nuclear energy has no alternative."

RWE's supervisory board looked into the project last week, but did not come up with a decision, a company spokesman said.

Industry insiders say RWE may delay its decision until it receives more evidence about the safety plans for Belene, in an effort to defuse the protests of environmental groups such as Greenpeace and green party politicians.

"If RWE gives in to pressure from green activists, they will make a mistake," Kuyumdzhiev said.

"Given the huge power shortages in Southeastern Europe, this is a unique investment offer. So, if they do not jump on it, someone else will."

He said some of the 12 companies which had expressed initial interest in the Belene project would most likely still be willing to get on board, and stressed that Bulgaria would push ahead with the nuclear plant in any case.

State power utility NEK, which has a majority stake in Belene, has contracted Russia's Atomstroiexport, along with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens to build the plant. The two reactors are expected to come online in 2013-2014.

Bulgaria is a strong supporter of nuclear energy and believes it is part of the solution to climate change as proponents say atomic power emits almost no greenhouse gas emissions.

(Source: Reuters)

Russia has finances for nuclear power plant Belene

The financial crisis will not affect the Russian financing of the Belene nuclear power as the sum allocated for the construction is secured and the project is proceeding according to plan, says Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov, as quoted by Stroitelstvo.bg. By the end of the year, Russia will pay the first instalments for manufacturing the equipment required inside the plant.

At the end of the Bulgarian Russian Economic Commission, Russia said that the investment for the period 2008 – 2010 for the construction of Belene will be to 3.8 billion euro.

The Russian economics commission has assured Petar Dimitrov, Energy and Economics Minister, there will be no delay in constructing the plan, according to Stroitelstvo. By the end of October, the cooperative agreement between Gazprom and the Bulgarian government will be signed. Bulgargaz and Gazprom will hold talks to increase the supply of “blue” fuel for Bulgaria, as the country needs 500 million more cubic metres of gas annually, according to rough calculations.

A decision for the preparation of a new agreement for the disposal of expended nuclear fuel was been made earlier this year, in June in St. Petersburg. The most important change concerns transporting the fuel from Belene. As a consequence to the agreement, the Russian side had agreed to accept the used fuel.

It is expected that excavations for the Belene foundations will start by the end of this year, with the construction starting in 2009, according to the Energy Minister.

(Source: Sofia Echo)

Belene nuclear power plant construction starts

The groundbreaking ceremony for the official start of construction on the second Bulgarian Belene nuclear power plant is scheduled for September 3. Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev will turn the first sod, according to the Bulgarian Socialist Party’s press centre in the northern city of Pleven, as quoted by Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik.

The company chosen to build the project is the Russian firm Atomstroyexport. For the official opening the Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov is also expected to attend, as well as energy specialists and MPs. Later, during the day, Stanishev is planning to meet people from Belene and nearby villages.

Belene is in northern Bulgaria on the riverbank of Danube. According to environmentalists it occupies a very dangerous seismic area. The fact that the ground for Belene nuclear power plant will be broken is itself controversial because the Nuclear Regulatory Agency had not yet issued a technical licence for the nuclear station, Petko Kovachev from BeleNE coalition (No to Belene) and Zelenite political party (Bulgarian Greens) told The Sofia Echo on September 2.

The National Electricity Company provides 51 per cent of the finance for Belene nuclear power plant. The state is still looking for an investor for the remaining 49 per cent. The deadline for filing an application expired at the end of June 2008 by which time only the Belgium Electrabel and the German RWE had filed proposals.

The state did not approve the two proposals by the end of July as expected and still has not secured finance for the remaining 49 per cent of Belene nuclear power plant, Kovachev said. According to him, the groundbreaking ceremony was merely a government media stunt designed to stem popular ill-feeling against it.

(Source: Sofia Echo)

Bulgaria Kozloduy asks IAEA to check nuclear fuel

Bulgaria's sole nuclear power plant, Kozloduy, will invite the U.N. nuclear watchdog IAEA to check the quality of its fuel in a bid to disprove accusations it uses dangerous recycled material, officials said on Thursday.

Kozloduy's executive director Ivan Genov said the plant was the target of a campaign aiming at damaging the future of nuclear energy in Bulgaria.

"For weeks, Kozloduy has been discredited by a campaign, which started with rumours about a radiation cloud," Genov told a news conference.

Last month, a persistent rumour in Internet chat rooms and blogs about an alleged major radiation incident at Kozloduy scared Bulgarians. The government has denied the rumour and launched a criminal investigation to find those who spread it.

Earlier this week, Georgi Kotev, a nuclear scientist and long-term Kozloduy employee, accused the plant in his web blog and several media interviews of using second-hand fuel.

"These claims are absurd," Genov said.

Bulgaria imports all of its uranium fuel for Kozloduy from Russia, the plant says.

The 2,000 megawatt Kozloduy, which accounts for over 35 percent of Bulgaria's power production, will ask the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to check the fuel it uses to prove its image is clean.

Bulgaria is among the European Union member countries that believe atomic energy is part of the solution to climate change, as proponents say it emits almost no greenhouse gases.

The country permanently shut four older Soviet reactors at Kozloduy in the past several years as a condition for joining the EU. As a result, it lost its position of a major power exporter in the Balkans.

Kozloduy, on the Danube, now has two remaining reactors.

Sofia plans a second 2,000 MW nuclear power plant on the Danube in Belene to restore its electricity exporting position and meet growing domestic demand.

Opinion polls show most Bulgarians support nuclear energy. Several green groups and parties oppose the Belene plan.

(Source: Reuters)

Economy Minister pessimistic on Belene nuclear power plant funding

Even Bulgaria's ever optimistic Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov has had to concede that the country's plans to build a second nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River face an uphill struggle to secure financing for construction to begin.

In an interview with private broadcaster Nova TV, quoted by Dnevnik daily on July 7, Dimitrov has said that funding "could not be secured", without going into details. Still, Bulgaria had one avenue left, he said: "There are some candidates, but the most visible one is Vladimir Putin".

Russia's prime minister, during his last visit to Bulgaria in January 2008, when he was still president, said that Russia had earmarked 3.8 billion euro in its budget for the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, should Bulgaria fail to secure funding any other way.

Dimitrov's admission comes only days after London-based Infrastructure Journal reported that BNP Paribas, the French banking group picked to arrange financing for the future nuclear power plant, has decided not to commit any of its own funds to the project.

Bankers quoted by the journal said that it was unusual for a bank picked to structure finance for such a big project not to make a contribution, and that it sent a message of caution to other prospective financial institutions.

With the costs of the project rising because of higher commodity prices and financial markets still in the throes of the global credit crunch, as well as strong opposition in Bulgaria from environmental activists, banks could be reluctant toget involved.

Bulgaria has signed a deal with Russia's Atomstroyexport to build the power plant for a fixed price of just under four billion euro, but that does not include additional costs on related infrastructure, which were expected to put the total investment in Belene around seven billion. That figure is now thought to be closer to nine billion euro, analysts have warned, including the former head of Bulgaria's first nuclear power plant at Kozloduy, Gueorgui Kastchiev, now teaches at Vienna University's department of risk research.

Despite rising worries about the future of the project, Dimitrov maintains, as quoted by Dnevnik, his point of view that private banks have to bear the brunt of the risk, the Government doing its part by committing 600 million euro in state guarantees for future loans that would be contracted from the European Union's Euratom nuclear agency and the European Investment Bank.

(Source: Sophia Echo)

Fears over Bulgarian nuclear boom

Two safety scares in June at nuclear plants in Slovenia and the Czech Republic have led to renewed calls for Europe to abandon nuclear power. But with energy prices soaring, the nuclear sector is actually on the rise.

The EU already has the highest number of nuclear plants in the world and Bulgaria is leading those member states determined to increase their nuclear dependence.

Nestling in the heart of the countryside, not far from the Danube, the Kozloduy nuclear plant powers Bulgaria's economy.

Over one third of the country's electricity comes from this sprawling showcase of Soviet design, which started operating in 1974.

In the vast turbine hall at Kozloduy's Unit Six, the noise is deafening and the temperature reaches 40 degrees.

A small Bulgarian tricolour stands on top of a machine and not just because the plant has become a symbol of national pride.

"We had some technical problems with the unit at first," an engineer explains, "so we thought the flag would bring luck and prevent future malfunctioning."

For extra cover, on either side of the flag, someone hand-painted two protective blue eyes.

It is an odd mix of superstition and high technology, but Bulgaria feels it needs all the help it can get.

Plant among poppies

Units Five and Six, the most modern at Kozloduy, are the only ones still buzzing with energy.

Amid safety concerns about communist-era reactors, the other four were shut down as a price for Bulgaria's EU membership.

Two closed just minutes before the country joined the EU on 1 January 2007.

"It felt like losing family members in their prime," sighs deputy executive director Kiril Nikolov.

The EU is paying over $800m (500m euros) in compensation, but Mr Nikolov - backed by Bulgaria's top politicians - says that is not enough.

"The compensation from the EU can hardly cover our losses," Mr Nikolov complains.

"It would be better if we could re-open two units. That would improve the energy balance for the whole Balkan region and help us become self-reliant."

To offset the loss of production at Kozloduy and regain its position as a major electricity exporter to the rest of the Balkans, Bulgaria has revived plans for a second nuclear power plant at Belene.

The site is three hours' drive from Kozloduy, in a field of poppies and wild bushes enclosed by a barbed wire fence.

Five tall yellow cranes stick out from among rusting containers and a ruined concrete structure.

Potential, not problem

Work on the Belene nuclear plant started in 1981, but was abandoned for lack of money.

In January, the project got a new lease of life when Bulgaria signed a contract worth $5.8 billion with a company controlled by the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Belene will be the first Russian-built nuclear power plant on EU territory.

Two thousand Russian experts will help build the plant, Bulgaria's biggest infrastructure project since the fall of communism.

Although we have permission to film, a police car pulls up.

"We thought you might be Greenpeace protesters," one of the policemen explains with an embarrassed smile.

Once reassured about our credentials, they show us the way to the nearby town of Belene, our very own friendly police escort.

Here, nuclear power is not seen as a problem, but as a solution.

Walking by the slow-flowing Danube with her young daughter, a teacher tells me she knows many people who have either emigrated or are unemployed.

She describes the nuclear plant as "a good opportunity".

Questions of quality

An elderly man has heard that thousands of Russians will be employed at Belene.

But, he says, "we hope that there will also be jobs for thousands more Bulgarians and the project will finally be completed".

But elsewhere, the project is controversial.

Like Kozloduy, Belene is sited near the Danube and any safety incident could have widespread effects.

Some of the strongest criticism comes from the man who used to run Bulgaria's nuclear safety authority.

Georgi Kastchiev, now working at the Institute of Risk Research in Vienna, says this type of Russian reactor "has never been built anywhere else in the world".

He doubts "the quality of Russian nuclear industry, because two years ago they delivered faulty equipment to Chinese reactors".

Nifty footwork

Another worry is that the nuclear plant will be built in a region prone to severe earthquakes.

Belene will also cement Bulgaria's dependency on Russia, on which it almost entirely relies for oil and gas.

Ognyan Minchev, who runs Sofia's Institute for regional and International Studies, argues that is not necessarily a problem "at a time when we presume that relationships between Russia and the West are going to be positive and good".

But, he warns, "any time when we see particular problems and challenges within those relationships, Bulgaria - a member of Nato and the EU - will be on the very dividing line".

Bulgaria and Russia are fellow Slavs, linked by language and religion.

They are currently celebrating 130 years of historic ties with high-level visits, exhibitions and ballet performances.

When it comes to energy, Bulgaria is by no means the only EU country dancing to Moscow's tune.

But it will require some nifty political footwork to keep its balance between its old friends in Moscow and its new partners in Europe.

Belene nuclear power plant could cost double, physicist warns

The cost of building Belene nuclear power plant nuclear could be several billion euro higher than the four billion euro price tag originally announced by the Bulgarian Government, according to Georgi Kastchiev, the physicist who was in charge when the first four units of Kozloduy nuclear power plant were opened.

Kastchiev, speaking at a May 26 news conference, also alleged that consumers would have to front the additional 110 million euro a year cost through their electricity bills in order to serve the loan from BNP Paribas and pay associated charges, according to Bulgarian-language daily Dnevnik.

Kastchiev was also one of the chief scientists who oversaw the opening of the fifth unit. He holds a PhD in reactor physics from Vienna and Tokyo universities and now teaches at Vienna University's department of risk research.

Kastchiev claimed that construction of the new nuclear power plant would cost nine billion euro, while the value of electricity accrued from it would be nine eurocent a kWh. He said the price of four billion euro announced by the constructor, the Russian company Atomstroyexport, was unrealistic. He said that this figure failed to take into account a 16 per cent increase in steel prices and a 12 per cent increase in the price of concrete. It also excluded the cost of two turbo generators, fuel charges and the construction of power transmission lines.

Other experts have also claimed that Belene NPP would be uncompetitive as an electricity supplier in the marketplace at these prices after 2015.

The Bulgarian government’s justification for the construction was that electricity from Belene would be cheap and that construction costs would not increase. According to Kastchiev, however, NEC’s envisaged prices only include the costs of environmental assessment, terrain maintenance and the cost of employing the project’s architect-engineer and financial consultant. Kastchiev also claimed that the cost of repaying bank loans had been excluded from the equation as well as the cost of supplying raw nuclear fuel and returning the processed nuclear fuel to Russia.

According to the MP from the energy commission, Yordan Kostadinov, the higher price envisaged by Kasschiev was out of the question. He told Bulgarian National Radio that Kastchiev was “an exceptional specialist in the field of nuclear safety, but he has never been an economist and never addressed the problems of a nuclear power plant”. The National Electricity Company (NEC) said that Kastchiev needed to provide the evidence to support his statements.

Contacted by The Sofia Echo on May 27, Kastchiev said that it was not enough for the Government to repudiate his forecasts. He said that the Government had to reveal whether the supply of fuel and turbines had already been contracted and, if not, what the price would be. Kastchiev said these were still unknown quantities and he deduced that their respective costs had not been included in the announced future price of electricity from Belene nuclear power plant.

During his presentation, Kastchiev also said that the project had not been properly financed. He said that banks would charge a double-figure interest rate to lend money to such a high-risk project. NEC had already chosen BNP Paribas to structure the project’s finance and the French financial institution has agreed to extend a 250 million euro loan. However, according to Kastchiev, the bank can refuse to provide the funding if its shareholders are against it.

Kastchiev told The Sofia Echo that the government’s energy policy was creating the conditions for unfair competition and the European Commission has to be alarmed about that because it has strict rules concerning competitiveness.

(Source: Sofia Echo)

Electrabel confirms interest in Belene nuclear power plant

Electrabel of Belgium, one of the two candidates shortlisted in the tender to pick a strategic investor for Bulgaria’s second nuclear power plant at Belene, confirmed its interest in the project, Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov told reporters emerging from a meeting with the company’s vice-president for Central Europe, Jean Claude Dorcimont, Dnevnik daily reported on May 21.

The deadline for filing final offers to acquire up to 49 per cent in the future company to build and operate the Belene power plant is early June. According to Dorcimont, Electrabel’s interest in Bulgaria includes also investments in hydro-power, wind and other power plants.

The meeting comes shortly after the economy minister met representatives of Germany’s RWE, the other shortlisted candidate. He then dismissed reports in the German press that the company would withdraw from the procedure over environmental concerns and doubts that the technology to be used at Belene was hazardous.

Czech CEZ, Italy's Enel and Germany's E.ON were all shortlisted by Bulgaria's National Electricity Company (NEC) at an earlier stage, but did not make the final cut.

NEC will hold the remaining 51 per cent in Belene, which, Bulgarian authorities hope, would once again make the country a major electricity exporter in South-Eastern Europe, after it had to shut down Soviet-built reactors at its Kozloduy power plant before joining the European Union in January 2007.

Belene's twin 1000-MW reactors would be built by Russia's Atomstroiexport, controlled by gas company Gazprom, with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens as subcontractors. The construction costs have been set at four billion euro, but the total outlay on the project is expected to be closer to seven billion euro.

At his meeting with Dimitrov, Dorcimont also expressed Electrabel's interest in participating in the Gorna Arda cascade and the construction of a gas-powered facility.

(Source: Sofia Echo)

RWE confirms interest in Bulgaria nuclear plant

German utility RWE is interested in winning a 49-percent stake in Bulgaria's nuclear power plant of Belene, a company official said on Wednesday, denying media reports that it might withdraw.

Holger Bietz, head of RWE Power's Merger and Acquisition unit, flew to Sofia to reassure the Bulgarian government that his company had not lost interest in the 4 billion euro ($6.19 billion) project, Bulgaria's economy ministry said.

Late last month, some German newspapers reported that RWE was considering withdrawing from the project due to various safety concerns.

"We have a team of 75 people going through all the documents so that we can continue and conclude the negotiations," Bietz told reporters after meeting the Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov.

Bulgaria's power utility NEK, which will keep the majority 51 percent stake, has short-listed RWE and Belgian Electrabel, owned by France's Suez for the minority stake in the 2,000 megawatt plant at the Danube River town of Belene.

Industry sources have told Reuters that RWE was the preferred key investor in the plant and that it was also willing to hedge the risk of the investment with Elecrabel.

Bietz said that the company was open at any time for any kind of partnerships but declined further comment.

Bulgaria wants the new nuclear plant to restore its position of a major electricity exporter in the Balkans after it was forced to shut communist-era reactors as a condition for winning European Union membership.

Dimitrov, who had hoped for a quick choice of a strategic investor, now said that it was not "healthy" to fix a deadline for a decision of such importance.

NEK has contracted Russia's state-owned Atomstroyexport, along with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens to build the plant.

The reactors, whose capital costs could exceed 6 billion euros according to some officials and analysts, are expected to come online in 2013-2014.

(Source: Reuters)

Bulgaria to decide on Belene nuclear power plant by end-March

Bulgaria would decide by end-March which of the five bidders interested in acquiring 49 percent of the planned nuclear power plant at Belene will remain in the race, Reuters reported on February 28.

Belgian utility Electrabel, owned by France's Suez, and Germany's RWE are leading the list of favourites for now, Reuters said. Bulgaria has also received offers from Italy's Enel, Germany's E.ON and Czech company CEZ.

"A decision on the short-list is now expected towards the end of March," an unnamed source told Reuters.

“(Bulgaria's state power grid operat National Electricity Company) NEC could not a reach a decision last week," Reuters reported.

Bulgaria wants the 2000 MW plant in the Danube town of Belene to make the country a major electricity exporter in the Balkans again after it was forced to shut communist-era reactors as a condition of joining the European Union.

Nuclear energy accounts for one third of the country’s power needs and the local Government is among the EU countries, which believe nuclear energy is part of the solution to climate change, as proponents say atomic power emits almost no greenhouse gas emissions, Reuters said.

NEC would retain 51 per cent of Belene, which would be built by Russia's Atomstroiexport, controlled by gas company Gazprom, with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens as subcontractors.
(Source: Sofia Echo)

Romania sees Belene nuclear power plant as "dangerous"

SofiaEcho
Bulgaria's planned nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River posed a risk to Romania's energy security, a top aide to Romanian president Traian Basescu said, as quoted by Romanian daily Business Standard on February 20 2008.
The nuclear power plant in Belene, which would be built next to the border with Romania, used the same technology as the one in Chernobyl and as such posed an "energy security risk" for Romania, Basescu's defense aide Constantin Degeratu was quoted as saying.
On April 26 1986, one of the reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near Kiev, now in Ukraine, exploded and sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere. It is the worst nuclear power plant disaster in history.
Degeratu made his comment when discussing the functions NATO could have in ensuring the energy security of its member states during a conference on the issue, held in Bucharest. The conference was part of a series of events, culminating in the NATO summit in the Romanian capital in April.
(original article)

Belene nuclear power plant - a profitable contract?

Russia's state-owned nuclear equipment monopoly Atomstroyexport signed a 3.9 billion euro ($5.9 billion) contract in Bulgaria on Friday to build a nuclear power plant in the north of the Balkan state. (RIA Novosti, full story here ).
Russia is even prepared to give a loan to Bulgaria for successful accomplishment of the project (2 reactors, first one to be comissioned in 2013, second in 2014).
However, 11 private banks have refused to finance the project under pressure of ecological organisations who claim that Belene plant might be potentially dangerous for the environment because of it's location in seismically unstable region near the border with Romania. The construction of the plant was initiated in 1985, but soon after that stopped because of the protests. Bulgarian Academy of Science oficially confirmed that nuclear power plant construction in that region might be potentially dangerous.
But the construction was resumed in 2006, operated by two companies - Russian Atomstroyexport and French-German Areva Group.
Russian ecological organisation are concerned about Russian participation in the project and the willing to offer Bulgaria a loan which has quite low possibility to be returned - especially in case something happens tot he plant even before it might get launched.
It might seem that Russia is investing money in potentially "failed" projects, however, in case with Bulgaria Russia has much more interests in cooperation with this country - a Southers gas pipe branch is just about to be built to lead Russian gas to European consumers via Bulgarian territory. Taking this interest into concern, one might think that Russia is investing into good relations with Bulgaria.