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Bulgaria premier declines to comment on nuke power plant construction

SOFIA, January 30, 21:18 /ITAR-TASS/. Bulgarian Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski refused on Thursday to comment on prospects for the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant with participation of Russian companies, scrapped in 2012.

Nuclear power industry in the country had developed “with the help of Russia and with the use of Russian technologies,” the prime minister told Itar-Tass.

In 2002, the Bulgarian government decided to resume its project to build the Belene nuclear power plant. Russia’s Atomstroyexport company won the tender announced in 2005. However, at the end of March 2012, the Bulgarian authorities made the decision to withdraw from the project to build the nuclear power plant having two units and a total capacity of more than 2,000 megawatt.

“Unfortunately, because of the problems with managing the country, the Belene project is undergoing arbitration proceedings, and for this reason I will refrain from further comments on the issue,” Oresharski said.

“We have a years-long experience in the use of nuclear power, and the Bulgarian society supports its development. To a large extent this happened with Russia’s assistance and with the use of Russian technologies. That is why I am optimistic about plans to develop nuclear power engineering in Bulgaria,” the prime minister noted.

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