Bulgaria will pick by the end of the month an advisor that will help
find a strategic investor for the construction of the country's second nuclear
power plant, Economy and Energy Minister Traicho Traikov said on
Monday.
The government in Sofia decided last year it would seek a
consultant for the financial repackaging of the Belene nuclear power plant
project following the pullout of one-time strategic investor RWE of
Germany.
RWE and Bulgarian power grid operator NEK, part of local energy
conglomerate BEH, were teamed up in a 49/51 joint venture for the construction
of the Belene power plant.
Economy
Minister also announced that Bulgaria is definitely going to expand its nuclear
energy capacity even if the construction of the Belene NPP
fails.
He made
clear the government's position that the construction of a seventh nuclear
reactor at the existing Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is "a much cheaper and much
better option in many respects".
Traikov
pointed out that the fate of the project for a second nuclear plant at Belene
will be clear by the end of the second year of his term in
office.