All employees and workers laid off from the Belene port after 2012 have been reinstated in order to prepare the facility for the arrival of the two nuclear reactors ordered for the unfinished project for a second nuclear power plant. Because of their size, the reactors are expected to be transported along the Danube river in the beginning of April.

The security of the site where the plant was supposed to be built has been enhanced while, on Wednesday, additional security measures for the arrival of the reactors were discussed. This happened at a meeting in Belene with the participation of employees from State Agency National Security (DANS), the Pleven Regional Police Directorate and the firefighter service.

The site where the reactors will be stored has already been classified as a site of strategic importance for the country.

The reactors were ordered by the government of Sergey Stanishev in 2008 via an agreement between the National Electricity Company (NEK) and Russian company Atomexportstroy.

The project was terminated with a decision of the Council of Ministers in 2012.

In June 2016, Atomexportstroy won a suit against Bulgaria. The court ruled then that Bulgaria must pay EUR 610 M for the reactors which had already been constructed. The payment was made by NEK via a state loan allocated in December 2016.