Five companies have expressed interest in Bulgaria's invitation for strategic investment in the construction of Belene nuclear power plant on the Danube River near the Romanian border. According to national newspaper 24 Chasa, China National Nuclear Corporation, Framatome, General Electric, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power and Rosatom have all applied for the selection process.

The Bulgarian government has invited strategic investment in the Belene nuclear power plant project. The "call for expressions of interest for a strategic investor and/or acquisition of a minority shareholding and/or purchase of electricity" was published in the Official Journal of the European Union yesterday.

Bulgaria's State Enterprise Radioactive Waste has awarded a further three-year extension to the Decommissioning-Repository Project Management Unit Consultant contract to the Empresarios Agrupados/Nuvia Consortium. The contract will now run through to 2022.

Bulgaria's National Electricity Company yesterday announced a call for selection of a strategic investor for the construction of Belene nuclear power plant on the Danube River near the Romanian border. The call also allows for expressions of interest to acquire a minority shareholding in the future project.

A plasma melting facility at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant has started operations, heralding a breakthrough in nuclear waste disposal to boost the decommissioning process.

The Bulgarian parliament, the National Assembly, yesterday mandated the country's energy minister to resume the search for investors in the construction of a second nuclear power plant at Belene. The National Assembly has thus recommended that the Council of Ministers reverse the 29 March 2012 decision to abandon the Belene project amid difficulties at that time in attracting investors.

Bulgaria should accelerate new nuclear build to meet the growing need for reliable, low-carbon electricity, Agneta Rising, director general of the World Nuclear Association, told Energy Commission Members at the Bulgarian Parliament today.

A demonstration test run of the Plasma Melting Facility at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria has been completed. The facility will be used to treat low- and intermediate-level solid radioactive waste, reducing its volume and immobilising it.

Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) has awarded a 10-year extension to the operating licence of unit 5 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. NRA chairman Lachezar Kostov officially presented the document to the plant's executive director, Ivan Andreev, last week.

Bulgaria started construction of a national repository for low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste yesterday, marking the occasion with a ceremony. The repository is being built at the Radiana site, close to the Kozloduy nuclear power plant.

Bulgaria's nuclear regulatory agency plans to use €3 million ($3.42 million) in funding from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for its role in the decommissioning of units 1-4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. The money will come from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund that is administered by the London-based bank.

Work to upgrade unit 5 of the Kozloduy nuclear plant in Bulgaria has been completed, extending its operations by 30 years to 2047, Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom and Bulgaria's Energy Ministry both announced yesterday. Meanwhile, Bulgaria today committed itself to fast-tracking payment of the debt it incurred to Russian companies for scrapping the Belene nuclear power plant project.