Bulgaria has come very close to the construction of its second nuclear power plant in Belene, according to President Georgi Parvanov.

During his visit to the Danube town of Belene for the town holiday, Parvanov said he expected the acceleration of the construction of the troubled Belene Nuclear Power Plant, as cited by BTA.

"There are currently intensive negotiations under way between the partners for the construction of the Belene NPP," declared Parvanov making it clear he did not doubt the good future of the project.

"After a debate filled with much political passion, emotions, I am satisfied that at the end of the day the arguments of the supporters of the development of our nuclear energy have triumphed; in particular with respect to the construction of the Belene plant. After the last deals, there is already a road maps, new annexes to the last agreement have been signed, which give us reason to think that the acceleration of the project can be expected," Parvanov is quoted as saying without specifying who are the persons and/or entities involved and what annexes exactly have been signed.

"From here on, it is very important to think about the investor, about expanding the opportunities for investing in the project. We have no reasons to doubt the bright future of this project, which is of national and regional importance. We can only keep our fingers crossed hoping that the Bulgarian interest should be protected and that things should continue this way," the President stated, apparently leaving vague and unclear many of the "bright future" claims he made.

At present, the Bulgarian government is running a tender to select a financial consultant of the project for the construction of the Belene plant that is supposed to analyze the feasibility of its construction.

The Belene NPP project was practically frozen after the previously strategic foreign investor, the German energy company RWE, backed out of the project in the fall of 2009. RWE was supposed to provide about EUR 2 B in exchange for a 49% share.

The Belene NPP is supposed to have two 1000 MW reactors, and is to be constructed by Russian state company Atomstroyexport. Estimates of the former government of the cost of the plant revolved around EUR 4 B, while the Borisov government estimated it at up to EUR 10 B.

Both the Stanishev and the Borisov Cabinets have declined offers by Russia – made by PM Vladimir Putin and by state company Rosatom – for a state-guaranteed Russian loan of EUR 2-4 B to keep the construction of Belene going until more funding and a strategic foreign investor is found.

The official position of the Borisov government is that the plant will be built only if a strategic European foreign investor becomes committed to the project.

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