There is only one nuclear power plant in Bulgaria with two Russian nuclear units, which produces over 40% of the country’s electricity. There are also two American high-capacity thermal power plants which produce a lot of electricity.

Bulgaria witnessed a series of severe political, economic, lobbyist and expert debates regarding the necessity of another nuclear power plant, or the possible expansion of the current NPP in Kozloduy. Two years ago, the project for the construction of a new Russian-equipped power plant in Belene was rejected at a national referendum. The discussions on this issue, however, remained topical until the summer of 2014, when former Minister of Energy returned from the USA with a signed memorandum with US energy giant Westinghouse, which envisaged the expansion of the current nuclear power plant in Kozloduy built near the Danube River. The former leftist cabinet headed by Premier Plamen Oresharski clearly said that it would leave this issue to the next government which had to decide whether to complete the deal with the American company, or not. However, the coalition cabinet headed by Premier Boyko Borissov, which took over the country’s rule in the fall of 2014, did not show any strong enthusiasm to interfere in the geopolitical conflict between the West and Russia and avoided taking a concrete decision, which would be either pro-Russian, or pro-American from a political point of view. The deadline of this delicate issue was March 31 and everyone in Bulgaria anticipated eagerly the answer of Westinghouse to the ultimatum of the Bulgarian cabinet, which said several days ago that it would continue this project, only if the US Company became a strategic investor and acquired 49% of the new nuclear unit. In other words, the Bulgarian authorities urged their US partners to provide 49% (USD 4 billion) of the financing necessary for the construction of the new energy facility.

The behavior of the Bulgarian authorities is reasonable. One month ago, the US Company was praising the technological properties and the economic benefits of their entirely new nuclear unit. However, the Bulgarian authorities obviously decided that if everything was so great, the US Company would not miss the opportunity to benefit from their nuclear novelty and make the necessary investments. Moreover, Bulgaria does not have the financial capacity to build new nuclear units alone. Several days ago environment experts from Greenpeace contended that Bulgaria did not need new nuclear energy facilities. The deal in question has a strong political aspect, too. Sofia was deeply disappointed by the failure of the South Stream gas project caused under the pressure of Brussels and Washington and now intends to make the best of the possible US investment.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov