Bulgaria May Ask US about 'Fishy' Nuclear Plant Investor

Bulgarian right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party wants the government to demand an official statement from the US Department of Energy regarding a mysterious investor that emerged for the country's abandoned nuclear power plant project.

According to Democrats for Strong Bulgaria leader Ivan Kostov, Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev has already promised to make such an inquiry.

On Wednesday, a largely unknown US enterprise called Global Power Consortium expressed interest in building Bulgaria's Belene NPP, the project for a second Bulgarian nuclear plant that was abandoned by the Borisov Cabinet in March 2012.

The interest of the largely unknown US enterprise Global Power Consortium in the construction of the 2000 MW Belene was made public in Sofia by a representative of the entity, Samuel Reddy.

"Our information is that this is a suspicious and fraudulent investor, to say the least," Kostov has told reporters, as cited by dnevnik.bg.

Kostov insists that the centrist-right GERB government should officially ask US authorities for information about the Global Power Consortium before making any decisions.

On Wednesday, Samuel Reddy claimed the Global Power Consortium is currently negotiating with Russian state company Atomstroyexport, which was supposed to build the nuclear power plant in Belene.

Atomstroyexport denied the statement.

Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, recently increased its claim filed with the International Court of Arbitration in Paris in 2011 to cover construction work and production costs of Belene's the two canceled nuclear reactors.

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