The suspended Belene project, which envisaged the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, was in a deadlock until recently. In 2012 the Bulgarian National Assembly suspended the fulfillment of the project due to political and economic arguments. However, Bulgaria had already ordered the nuclear reactors from Russia. In the spring of 2016 the International Court of Arbitration ruled that Bulgaria had to pay the Russian manufacturers for the two nuclear reactors. Thus, it turned out that Bulgaria had to pay for two reactors that were already manufactured, although the Belene project was suspended and the country did not need such devices at that point. As a result, Bulgaria entered into a delicate situation where the country's authorities neither showed enough will to complete the nuclear project, nor had enough money to do so. The authorities started to ask themselves what to do with the manufactured nuclear equipment when it became clear that Bulgaria had to pay for the two reactors in advance. The most logical answer was that Bulgaria should better sell the reactors together with the whole Belene project. However, few companies worldwide are usually interested to buy nuclear facilities.

Now it looks like that the project is about to come to life again with the assistance of Chinese investors. Representatives of China General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) visited Bulgaria before this country even paid the Russian energy giant Atomstroyexport EUR 601 million for the nuclear reactors. After their meeting with Bulgarian high-standing officials, including outgoing Premier Boyko Borissov, it became clear that the Asian country may join the Belene project as a strategic investor, i.e. to gain possession of the nuclear facilities. According to unofficial information, the US Company Westinghouse, the French Electricite de France (EDF) and China General Nuclear Corporation have shown interest in Bulgaria's Belene NPP project so far. However, only the Chinese company has made concrete steps towards the fulfillment of that project. According to estimates, the price of the Belene nuclear power plant project is over EUR 10 billion.

The interest of the Chinese investor towards Belene NPP seems quite secure from a financial point of view. It became clear on Wednesday, December 14, that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has also shown interest towards Belene together with CGN. Apparently, that financial institution does not intend to gain possession of the nuclear power plant, but only to finance the possible deal. It is interesting to note that ICBC is the world's largest bank with assets worth over USD 3.5 trillion.

Official Sofia should be happy with the investor's interest from ICBC and CGN, because it may solve one of its biggest and most-expensive problems.  According to estimates, Bulgaria has already spent nearly EUR 2 billion on the issue. This money will be lost for good, if the state authorities fail to find a potential investor. EUR 2 billion is a lot of money for a small and poor country like Bulgaria. This is double the annual amount spent on security and defense, for example. Here we should add something very important. According to reliable sources, Bulgaria's authorities were quite sincere and straightforward with their Chinese partners and even refused to provide any state assistance and preferential treatment to the potential investors. The whole project should be based on market principles and its success should depend on the market conjuncture only, outgoing Premier Boyko Borissov underlined during the meeting with the Chinese investors. The Chinese company has to make the right calculations. They can do that perfectly and would not take any ill-advised risks without calculating even the smallest details. Now, official Sofia has to wait for good news from China.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov