SOFIA, August 22. /TASS/. Bulgarian President Rumen Radev considers the interest of international companies in implementing the project for the contraction Belene nuclear power plant to be a "good sign."
"The presence of such a large number of [potential] investors is a positive sign that shows that the plant is needed and can be profitable. A business first makes calculations before it decides to take part in anything," Radev told reporters on Thursday.
According to the presidential press service, the head of state considers it important first to verify potential investors, their capabilities and intentions, in order to avoid further government intervention and provision of additional state guarantees in one form or another.
On August 19, Bulgaria’s Energy Ministry completed accepting bids for the tender to choose a strategic investor for the Belene NPP project.
Seven companies expressed their readiness to implement the project. The list of the companies includes Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which applied via its subsidiary Atomenergoprom, the Korean Hydro and Nuclear Power, the China National Nuclear Corporation, two consortiums and a company registered in Bulgaria, as well as one German company. The whole procedure will be completed by May 2020.
Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev, believes that the Belene NPP can be built as part of international cooperation.
"This project is important to us, we consider it significant for Rosatom," he said on the sidelines of the WorldSkills championship in Kazan.
In 2006, the Atomstroyexport company (part of Rosatom) already won a tender for the construction of two power units of the Belene NPP. The equipment was delivered to the construction site, but in 2009 the project was halted and in 2012 Sofia abandoned it. In May 2018, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov announced that the country intends to resume the Belene program and a tender was announced in 2019.