The price to construct a second Nuclear Power Plant in the Danube town of Belene is an impossible burden for Bulgaria, and will be the double of all assets of the country's energy sector.

The statement was made Friday by Bulgaria's Economy and Energy Minister, Delyan Dobrev. Speaking for the Bulgarian National Television, BNT, he said that the energy assets are BGN 12 B, while the NPP will cost over BGN 20 B.

Commenting on the upcoming referendum on the project to build a second NPP in Bulgaria, Dobrev was firm people must make an educated choice, and not be led by emotions and nostalgia.

"Instead of collecting signatures for a referendum, the Socialists should have opened an account where everyone who supports this project should make cash contributions. They failed to sign the contract for three years, because the problem is purely financial," said he.

Dobrev labeled claims the electric power from the NPP will be cheaper a "manipulation." He stressed that the expert analysis of the consultant HSBC has shown that 1 MWH from Belene will cost on average BGN 150. In comparison, 1 MWH of wind energy, after the changes in legislation that will be made in September, will cost BGN 140, while solar energy will cost BGN 160, placing nuclear energy on the same price level.

One week ago, Sergey Stanishev, the leader of the opposition left-wing Bulgarian Socialist Party, tabled to the Bulgarian Parliament a referendum petition supported by 770 000 signatures.

On Wednesday, Bulgaria's Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, his Cabinet, and the ruling party Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, GERB, voiced support for the holding of such referendum.

Under Bulgarian legislation, the Parliament and Cabinet are obliged to schedule a referendum under any petition that is supported by at least 500 000 signatures, which technically makes irrelevant the support that Borisov and the GERB party declared.

After years of uncertainty and hesitancy, at the end of March, Bulgaria's government officially gave up on Belene. The project was supposed to be built by Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Russia's state-owned Rosatom.

The construction of the 2000 MW Belene Nuclear Power Plant would have cost EUR 10.35 B in the best case scenario, according to the estimates of Bulgarian government's consultant for the project, the HSBC bank.

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