Bulgarian Minister of Economy and Energy Delyan Dobrev voted in Bulgaria's national referendum on nuclear energy Sunday in his native city of Haskovo.
The question posed to Bulgarian voters at the referendum is "Should nuclear energy be developed in the Republic of Bulgaria through the construction of a new nuclear power plant?"
Upon exiting the polling booth, Dobrev commented that the question refers only to the frozen Belene NPP project and to completely new NPPs, and does not cover any possible expansioni of the now functioning Kozloduy NPP.
"For the Kozloduy NPP expansion, we are doing initial studies as we speak, and the whole process might be started perhaps during the second half of 2013," said the minister.
According to Dobrev, the Kozloduy option is much more economically effective than Belene, for the site has already has the entire infrastructure needed for the installation of a new nuclear reactor.