Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Parliament greenlights nuclear project with US technology

АЕЦ Козлодуй
Photo: BTA, archive

With 149 votes in favour, 50 against and three abstentions, Parliament ratified in first reading the agreement between Bulgaria and the United States for cooperation on the project for the construction of nuclear power at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant site and Bulgaria's civil nuclear programme. The opposition parties - Vazrazhdane and the BSP - reacted strongly to the decision. The BSP described it as a servile act that violated all EU principles.

Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant, Kozloduy, currently has two operating Russian-made reactors. In December 2022, Westinghouse signed a 10-year contract to supply fresh nuclear fuel for one of the units from its manufacturing plant in Västerås, Sweden, and deliveries will start in a month's time. 

he Minister of Energy is required to take all steps to make a positive decision on the construction of new AR1000 nuclear power capacity using Westinghouse technology, according to parliamentary decisions in January and December 2023. 

In an interview with BNT, Kozloduy NPP executive director Valentin Nikolov said that the plant's new units - No 7 and No 8 - would cost less than 30 billion leva (15 billion euro), of which 20% would be self-financed and the rest from loans. Westinghouse is expected to announce the price at the end of this month. Unit 7 is expected to be operational in 2034 and unit 8 2-3 years later. No AP1000 units have yet been built in Europe.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Bulgaria has the highest share of low-wage earners in the EU

In 2022, 14.7% of workers in the EU were low-wage earners . By definition, low-wage earners are those who earn two-thirds or less of the average gross hourly wage in the country.  Bulgaria had the highest share of low-wage earners (26.84%). This..

published on 2/27/25 4:57 PM

EC hopes for positive decision on part of payments under Bulgaria's Recovery and Resilience Plan

The European Commission hopes to have a positive decision this year on at least part of the second payment under the Recovery and Resilience Plan in the amount of 653 million euros for Bulgaria . This was stated by the Commission spokesman Maciej..

published on 2/27/25 3:20 PM
Rositsa Mateva

CEC: There will be no recount of ballots from the last elections

There will be no recount of ballots from the recent parliamentary elections in October 2024. The Central Election Commission (CEC) met today after the Constitutional Court yesterday ordered a recount of the parliamentary election results due to numerous..

published on 2/27/25 1:54 PM