Bulgaria's new Economy, Energy and Tourism Minister said Monday that he will review the justification for big energy projects because of the economic crisis.
Traicho Traikov's main target was a project to build a new 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant near Belene on the Danube.
"What is clear is that work was done on a piecemeal basis, without any idea on how to achieve economic profitability or structure funding," Traikov said after reviewing the project's contracts with the Russian builder Atomstroyexport and the plant's German shareholder RWE AG (RWE.XE).
He also condemned all procedures on the project so far as being "extremely untransparent."
Before giving approval for the project, the government should answer several key questions, Traikov said: "Does Bulgaria need such a generating capacity? How much should the energy from it cost to make the project profitable? Is there a market for electricity at that price?"
He said: "Over EUR400 million have already been spent on the project before these important questions found an answer," he added.
Bulgaria and Atomstroyexport signed the deal for the EUR4 billion plant in January 2008, but work on the project has been badly delayed by financing problems.
Traikov said two other major projects crossing Bulgaria - the European Union-backed Nabucco gas pipeline and the rival Russia-backed South Stream project - would also be carefully analysed.
On Nabucco, he was generally positive, noting: "There is already a price model for Nabucco, approved by all energy regulators in the E.U. and Turkey, as well as a model for financing the project."
"There are still problems with the technical and economic assessment for South Stream," he added however.
But he noted: "Bulgaria will continue working on the two projects and analyse the results at every step."
South Stream will feed Russian gas to Europe, while the Nabucco pipeline aims to transport gas from Central Asia to the E.U., while bypassing Russia.
Bulgaria's new government, which took office last week, is strapped for cash amid the economic recession, slumping exports, falling foreign investments and a widening budget gap.