Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said Thursday that Bulgaria could support a private proposal to revive dropped national plans for a new nuclear plant on the Danube.
Speaking a day after the US-led group Global Power Consortium said it was interested in reviving the 2,000-megawatt Belene plant, Borisov said he was potentially open to such proposals.
"Why reject them if they are serious?" Borisov said.
Bulgaria in March announced plans to drop the project over financial constraints. It had signed a deal with Russian company Atomstroyexport to build the plant.
Global Power, which refused to name its shareholders, said it was ready to fund Belene as a private investment project by using all the equipment already ordered under the Atomstroyexport deal.
The move to drop the deal with Russia's state-run nuclear firm angered Moscow and Atomstroyexport is pursuing a one-billion-euro ($1.3-billion) compensation claim against Bulgaria at the Paris-based International Court of Arbitration.
Some observers see Global Power's offer as a convenient way for Bulgaria to mend its relations with Russia, especially as Atomstroyexport appeared willing to continue with the project.
Belene was initially conceived as a state project and Borisov set certain conditions Thursday over its potential transfer to private investors.
"If they do not want state guarantees or a preferential purchase scheme for the electricity, if they cover all financial losses we sustained over the years and the claim by the Russian side and deposit 200 million euros or dollars, then I will take that their interest is serious," Borisov said.
Bulgaria has one nuclear plant at Kozloduy.
The Eastern European nation aims to extend by 15 to 20 years the operational life of the facility's Soviet-built 1,000-megawatt pressurised water reactors, currently due to come offline in 2017 and 2019 after nearly 30 years of service.
In the meantime, all talks with Global Power will be held in parliament, the prime minister said.
