Bulgaria to build two new nuclear reactors

(Patria) - The Bulgarian government has approved the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the Kozloduy power plant on the Danube, entrusting the work to the US company Westinghouse.

The government has already signed contracts with Westinghouse's Swedish subsidiary and the French company Framatome.

Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov stated yesterday that the first reactor should start operating within 10 years at the latest, and the second by 2036.

Sofia also reported that it will increase the nuclear plant's share capital by up to 500 million leva ($270.53 million).

The Kozloduy nuclear power plant currently produces electricity using two Soviet-made reactors with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each.

Brussels ordered the shutdown of two smaller reactors for safety reasons shortly before Bulgaria's accession to the EU in 2007.

Bulgaria produces about a third of its electricity from nuclear power plants and about half from coal-fired thermal power plants.

Two weeks ago, the new government, elected in June, canceled a public tender for a nuclear power plant project near Belene on the Danube, which was originally supposed to be built in cooperation with Russia, according to the dpa news agency.