The European Commission's directorate-general for energy and transport has given its green light for Bulgaria to build a nuclear power plant at Belene using Russian reactors.

Since the deal was signed last year, just a month before Bulgaria joined the EU in January, it needed the express approval of the European executive to go through, Bulgaria's power grid operator NEK said in a statement on Tuesday.

NEK will own 51% of the company that will build and operate the plant, with the remaining 49% put for sale in a tender that has Czech CEZ, German E.ON and RWE, Belgian Electrabel and Italy's Enel all vying for it.

With the European Commission giving its approval, Bulgaria can now apply for a government-underwritten EUR 300 M loan from the EU's Euratom agency.

It plans to borrow a similar amount from the European Investment Bank (EIB), as well, and government officials have earlier claimed that they have already secured EUR 250 M in funding for the plant from BNP Paribas.

The total construction costs for the plant, which will feature two 1000 MW third-generation Russian reactors built by Atomstroyexport, are estimated at EUR 4 B.

Bulgaria decided to unfreeze its plans to build the plant in 2004, having mothballed them a decade and a half earlier, to compensate for shutting down four older Soviet reactors at its Kozloduy facility at the request of the EU.

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