Bulgaria Turn To Russian Loan Sharks?

Bulgarian had been refuse a loan for building a nuclear plant from commercial banks and now they have turned to their old allies Russia for the finances. Are the Russians going to be loan sharks though? It seems that nuclear power is priority in Bulgaria and the funds are needed at all costs. Will this give Russia control over Bulgaria’s power sources again just like the gas crisis last winter? Perhaps Bulgaria is treading on thin ice here is the deal goes through.

Russia is going over details before granting Bulgaria a $5.4 billion loan to build a nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube River, Sofia officials said.

Bogomil Manchev of the Bulgarian Risk Engineering consultant company said the loan Russia has already promised Bulgaria will be granted in six months at the earliest, the Bulgarian Sofia news agency SNA reported Monday.

The Russian Ministry of Finance is working out conditions for granting Bulgaria the loan, which in turn is to be accepted by the Bulgarian government, Manchev told the Bulgarian Pari daily newspaper.

Originally, Bulgaria was planning to begin construction of the two 1,000-megawatt reactors nuclear power plant at Belene early this year.

The global financial crisis has hampered Bulgarian efforts to obtain a loan from international commercial banks and the southeastern European nation instead turned to the Russian government for funding.

The $5.8 billion Belene plant will use two third-generation, light-water reactors to be built by the Russian company Atomstroyexport.

Ivan Atanasov, chairman of a working group coordinating the Belene project, said Bulgaria is now awaiting a Russian letter with conditions and the exact amount of the loan, SNA said.

Source: http://www.upi.com/
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