The Bulgarian cabinet gave permission to state-owned Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) on Wednesday to negotiate with US companies developing nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors, with the goal of exploring the possibility of deploying a new reactor unit at the existing Kozloduy site.

According to the BTA news agency, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova told the Bulgarian parliament’s energy committee of the decision and said the rationale behind the move is the European Union’s policy of decarbonisation and net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Ms Petkova said a deadline of 31 January 2021 had been set for BEH to produce a feasibility study.

She told Bulgarian television on Wednesday that the project for a new reactor at Kozloduy would not necessarily prevent the development of an existing project to build two Russian reactor units at a new site, Belene, about 160 km east of Kozloduy.