Russia officially declared its interest in the construction of Bulgaria’s Nuclear Power Plant Belene. That happened during the meeting of Bulgaria’s Energy Minister Milko Kovachev with Russia’s Minister of Atomic Energy Aleksandr Yuryevich Rumyantsev, on a one-day visit to Bulgaria. "The government intends to continue the construction of the Belene nuclear plant, which will be in conformity with all modern requirements for reliability and safety, " Prime Minister Saxe-Coburg declared in early-April. The construction was frozen in 1990 after pressure from environmentalists. The plant is located near the Danube port of Belene, 250 kilometers northeast of Sofia. The efforts of the Bulgarian government to renew construction come in a time when many in Bulgaria fear that the country may face power shortages and electricity price increases after it later this year closes two of six Soviet-designed reactors at its only nuclear plant in Kozloduy, 200 kilometers north of Sofia. Bulgaria agreed to shut down the units under pressure from the European Union, which considers them unsafe. So far, Canadian, French and Czech companies have expressed interest to participate in the construction of the second Belene N-plant in Bulgaria. According to Rumyantsev, since the small units of N-plant Kozloduy still have resources to operate, there were no reasons for their preliminary closure.

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