By Elizabeth ADENUGA
The Bulgarian government on Monday started the process of inviting investors for its stalled nuclear power plant in the town of Belene, along the Danube River.
The energy ministry, however, said in a statement that potential minority shareholders are also invited to declare their interest.
“The deadline for applications is three months and the process is expected to be completed within a year,’’ it said.
The ministry made the announcement a week after Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev visited Sofia and said that Russia’s atomic energy corporation, Rosatom, was ready to invest in the project.
The German-French consortium Framatom, U.S.-based General Electric, China’s CNC and the Korean Hydro & Nuclear Power have all expressed interest.
The government in Sofia had stopped construction of the project at Belene in 2012 due to financial constraints and it now wants to sell it to private investors.
The Belene project has been strongly opposed by environmentalists.
Report says Bulgaria already operates a nuclear plant, the Russian-built Kozloduy with two 1,000-megawatt generators.—DPA
