Bulgarian authorities are exploring options to privatize Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project, Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Donchev has said.

Russia has given its consent in principle, the Bulgarian National Radio quotes him as saying.

Donchev has underlined the need to "halt the clock of interest," in a reference to the EUR 0.167 M piled up on the EUR 620 M principal on a daily basis since June.

The controversial project, on which Bulgaria was working with Russia, was abandoned during Boyko Borisov's first term as Prime Minister. In June, however, Bulgaria was told by an arbitration court to pay hundreds of millions of EUR to Atomstroyexport, the Russian company which had already produced a reactor and some equipment for the plant.

The Bulgarian official's comment coincides with a visit of Temenuzhka Petkova, Bulgaria's Energy Minister, to Moscow where she is discussing the arbitration's decision with a working group convened earlier this year.

Donchev has added that Bulgaria will first try using the equipment it will receive from Atomstroyexport after making the payment to complete the plant "through an open, transparent privatization procedure."

"The key is to find a reliable enough investor," he has said.