Bulgaria plans to add a new US-built reactor to its Soviet-era nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on the Danube, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Tuesday.

The Balkan country, which joined the EU in 2007, is almost totally dependent on Russia for its energy and has been long advised by both the EU and the US to seek ways to diversify its energy sources and supply routes.

"This is the site where we want to build unit seven" of the plant, Borisov said during a visit broadcast on his official Facebook page.

He added that it would be "a US reactor, with US nuclear fuel".

He said that the energy ministry was considering building one bigger reactor and later adding several small modular reactors to it.

The government will adopt a decree approving the project at its weekly session on Wednesday, Borisov said, but added that this was a long-term endeavour, with the new reactor to be operational in 10-15 years.

The Kozloduy nuclear power plant, in the north, currently operates only two 1,000-megawatt units after four smaller ones had to be shut for safety reasons to secure the country's EU accession in 2007.

The plant supplies one-third of the country's electricity and the government had been keen to extend the two reactors' lifespan until 2027 and 2029, while also looking into options to build new nuclear capacity.

In 2012, Sofia scrapped a deal with Russia's nuclear company Atomstroyexport to build a new 2,000-megawatt plant at Belene, also on the Danube.

The energy ministry revived the long-stalled project and sought binding offers earlier this year from several companies, including Russia's Rosatom and China's CNNC, who have expressed interest in becoming strategic investors in the project.

However, during a recent visit to Sofia, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Francis Fannon criticised Belene as outdated and serving Russia's political interests.

"It creates dependency. It is based on technology that Russia refuses to use in its own country," Fannon said, recommending the use of US technology instead.

The US demonstrated its clear interest in the region when it dislodged China last week as financier for two new nuclear reactors at Romania's only nuclear power plant at Cernavoda.

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US ousts China from Romania nuclear project
Bucharest (AFP) Oct 9, 2020
Washington's energy ministry said Friday that the US would dislodge China as financier for two new reactors at Romania's only nuclear power plant. Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu and US counterpart Dan Brouillette had initialled a "draft intergovernmental Agreement to cooperate on the expansion and modernisation" of Cernavoda in Romania's southeast, the US Department of Energy said in a statement. Bucharest will gain access to "US expertise and technology", while a "multinational team" ... read more