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

Daniel Mitov

The Interior Ministry is performing well with the checks in the interior of the country after Bulgaria's entry into Schengen

The Ministry of Interior is performing well. There has been an increase in the amount of seized drugs and human traffickers caught at the Schengen borders , Minister of Interior Daniel Mitov said in response to a journalist's question about how the..

published on 2/26/25 4:48 PM

Sofia Mayor Terziev seeks funding for better transport and energy efficiency

Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev and Deputy Mayor of Sofia for Finance Ivan Vasilev met in Bulgaria's capital with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Associate Director Donald Mishaxhiu. The purpose of the meeting was to explore..

published on 2/26/25 3:08 PM

Hristo Stoichkov becomes the first ambassador of sports tourism for the World Tourism Organization

Hristo Stoichkov has been appointed the Sports Tourism Ambassador for the World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism). This became clear at an official meeting in the Council of Ministers between Prime Minister Rosen Zhelyazkov, Minister of Tourism..

published on 2/26/25 2:56 PM