The Export-Import Bank of the United States (Exim Bank) has expressed its readiness to provide more than $8bn (€7.48bn) in funding for Bulgaria’s plans to build two new Westinghouse-made AP1000 pressurised water reactor units at the existing Kozloduy nuclear power station, according to the country’s caretaker energy minister Vladimir Malinov.

Malinov told a local energy podcast that the proposal was part of a letter of interest the Bulgarian energy ministry received from the Exim Bank.

Last month, a Bulgarian delegation was in Washington to meet Exim Bank officials as reports emerged that the bank would start work on the structuring of financing for the proposed AP1000 new-build project at Kozloduy with the aim of meeting a mid-2025 deadline set by parliament.