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DPA
Bulgaria has stopped construction of its second nuclear power plant until it finds a new investor and funds to complete the project, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov told Tuesday's edition of the daily 24Casa.
"The country has no money for an atomic power plant," Borisov said. "We will build it when investors come."
The government has earmarked 7 million euros (9.25 million dollars) to conserve the construction site at Belene, on the Danube, 180 kilometres northeast of the capital Sofia.
The plant was originally to be built by Russian company Atomstroiexport for 4 billion euros. The firm had signed a contract with the previous, Socialist-led government, swept from power by Borisov's conservative GERB party swept in last year's July elections.
Borisov last week turned down a 2-billion-euro offer made by Moscow for a stake in the plant, which would have kept the construction work going.
Instead, Bulgaria plans to seek a full investor to finish its second nuclear plant, Borisov said.
Neighbouring Serbia had also expressed interest in a 5-per cent stake in the project, Borisov said, turning it into "a Balkan, European project."
However, it has been estimated that finding a new chief investor - to replace the German energy company RWE, which withdrew last autumn - may take around 18 months.
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Amidst ongoing uncertainties surrounding the Belene nuclear power plant, Bulgaria's Energy Minister, Rumen Radev, revealed on Friday a strategic decision to postpone the sale of equipment from the unfinished facility to Ukraine
Energy Minister Rumen Radev affirmed Ukraine's ongoing interest in acquiring equipment for Bulgaria's Belene Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) during an inspection of Bulgaria's gas link construction with Serbia
During his meeting in Athens with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed his country's interest in purchasing the two Bulgarian reactors from the unfinished "Belene" nuclear power plant and its equipment
Deputies from three parliamentary groups - GERB, WCC-DB and DPS - submitted a proposal to the National Assembly to attempt to sell equipment for the "Belene" Nuclear Power Plant to Ukraine through negotiations
The final signing of an engineering contract with the American company "Westinghouse" for the construction of two units at the site of the Kozloduy NPP is pending
Brussels will stand behind Bulgaria if it decides to complete the Belene NPP. This is clear from the words of Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans. He assures that nuclear energy will play a role in the future that the EC has nothing
Brazen Bulgarian gangs "terrorise the elderly and rob them over their life savings with increasingly aggressive phone scams nettling millions of euros," according to an AFP story.
The prospect of US President Donald Trump's moving closer to Russia has scrambled the strategy of "balancing East and West" used for decades by countries like Bulgaria, the New York Times says.
Bulgarians have benefited a lot from their EU membership, with incomes rising and Brussels overseeing politicians, according to a New York Times piece.
German businesses prefer to trade with Bulgaria rather than invest into the country, an article on DW Bulgaria's website argues.
The truth about Bulgaria and Moldova's presidential elections is "more complicated" and should not be reduced to pro-Russian candidates winning, the Economist says.
President-elect Rumen Radev "struck a chord with voters by attacking the status quo and stressing issues like national security and migration," AFP agency writes after the presidential vote on Sunday.
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