The Prime Minister of Bulgaria is expecting private investors to help revive the scrapped Belene nuclear power project, as Bulgaria is facing difficulties to finance compensations to Russian company Atomstroyexport.
The construction of the Belene power plant started in 1987 but was stopped in 1991 under the pressure of ecological movements and neighbouring countries. The project was revived in 2002 and Atomstroyexport was selected in 2006 to build two 1,000 MW VVER-1000 reactors. However, the project failed to attract investors and was cancelled in 2012, prompting Atomstroyexport to file a lawsuit against the Bulgarian Government and to claim €1bn in damages. An international arbitration court ruled that NEK should pay around €550m (US$620m) to the Russian group, in compensation for equipment ordered for the Belene project.
Bulgaria is now forced to pay compensation and is unable to build the plant alone. The country is then seeking to develop Belene as a private project through the privatization agency, but will likely struggle to attract investors (RWE had withdrawn from discussions in 2009).
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