Bulgaria could incorporate the reactors built for the abandoned Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) project into its existing plant, Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova has said.

Officials have discussed the prospect with representatives of Russian energy giant Rosatom, whose export arm, Atomstroyexport, made the reactors, Petkova has told private broadcaster bTV in an interview.

However, the government still looks at this scenario as an option of last resort, she has said.

"There is investment interest in the Belene project itself. We are not ruling out either of the options."

Petkova has reiterated the government's intention to carry out a "public and transparent" procedure to seek privatization for the Belene NPP.

Bulgaria unfroze Belene NPP in the mid-2000s, but abandoned the project a few years ago, with Atomstroyexport filing a lawsuit against the country.

Bulgarian state-owned National Electricity Company (NEK) was told in June to pay hundreds of millions of EUR for equipment produced by the Russian company for the plant's purposes. In return, it will receive both reactors and other equipment.