China Interested in Bulgaria Nuclear Project

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) has expressed interest in investing in a Bulgarian nuclear power project, Bulgaria's government said on Monday. Sofia plans to privatize the Belene project on the Danube River after it pays more than €600 million ($642 million) in compensation to Russia's state nuclear giant Rosatom following the cancellation of the project, Reuters reported. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov told representatives of the Chinese state-owned company that the nuclear project can be built without state guarantees or obligatory long-term contracts from the state to purchase power from it. "The representatives of the Chinese corporation confirmed their readiness to participate in the realization of the project under such conditions," the office said in a statement. Borisov's first government cancelled the €10-billion Belene project in 2012 after failing to find foreign investors for the plans and under pressure from Brussels and Washington to limit the country's energy dependence on Russia.