You're reading: Bulgaria plans third nuclear reactor

SOFIA — Bulgaria's government has announced plans to install a third reactor at the country's only nuclear power plant in Kozloduy.

The decision came two weeks after the government gave up a decades-old project to build a second nuclear power plant near the city of Belene.

Finance Minister Simeon Dyankov said on April 11 the new unit will be designed and built on "a commercial basis, without government guarantees and without spending the money of the taxpayers."

He did not confirm previous plans that one of the two 1,000-megawatt nuclear reactors already assembled by Russia’s Atomstroyexport and originally meant for Belene could be placed in Kozloduy, boosting its capacity to 3,000 megawatts.

The center-right government has repeatedly pledged to reduce Bulgaria’s almost total dependence on Russian energy supplies.