Bulgaria will have to pay EUR 280 M more by the middle of September for the first reactor of the “Belene” nuclear power plant, which is supposed to be ready by that time, Bulgaria's PM has announced.

After his meeting with the Russian First Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor Zubkov, who is in Sofia to discuss with the Bulgarian PM the fate of high-profile joint energy projects, Boyko Borisov said that Bulgaria has already paid EUR 300 M for the same reactor.

“If in the meantime we cannot find a strategic investor and we give up the construction of a second nuclear power plant, we will have to pay penalties, amounting from a few hundreds millions to more than EUR 1 B,” Borisov said, adding that the road map of the site is ready and there are only a few key questions for clarifying.

“Belene” is the best project for construction of a nuclear power plant in the whole world with a very good safety level,” Zubkov said and explained that in the beginning there have been 8 000 notes to the project but they have all been answered and now the priority would be to find a strategic investor.

On his part, Borisov noted that the "Russian party knows well that at the Belene site there is but a meager lake", a recurring jocular phrase of his implying that the project has not really started.

He also added that he hopes that "real results can be achieved by September" and that there will be no changes in the negotiated price for the project.

„I hope that in 10 years the price will remain EUR 7 B, as negotiated today with the Russians. There is also a possibility of negotiating a 40% decrease in the price,” Borisov said.

The plant was originally to be built by Russian company Atomstroyexport for EUR 4 B. The firm had signed a contract with the previous, Socialist-led government, swept from power by Borisov's conservative GERB party swept in last year's July elections.