Bulgarian PM Slams N-Plant Referendum as 'Pointless'

Bulgaria's upcoming nuclear energy referendum will be "pointless" according to the country's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov.

On January 27, Bulgarian citizens will have to answer the question "Should nuclear energy be developed in Bulgaria through the construction of a new nuclear power plant?" The referendum was initially triggered by the oppositional Bulgarian Socialist Party's desire to revive the abandoned Belene nuclear power plant project.

"This is a really pointless referendum," Borisov told reporters on Friday. He argued that his political foe, Bulgarian Socialist Party leader and former PM Sergey Stanishev, would have signed the project while he was in power if it was feasible.

Borisov further noted that the left-wing party does not even know how much the project will cost.

He also declared that his center-right GERB government's aim is to develop the existing nuclear power plant in Kozloduy.

Borisov recently called on GERB supporters to vote "no" at the referendum.

The controversial project for a second Bulgarian NPP, to be located at the Danube town of Belene, which was first started in the 1980s and was supposed to be built by Russian state company Atomstroyexport, was abandoned in March 2012 by the ruling GERB government, the rationale being that it is economically unfeasible for Bulgaria.