The US Export-Import Bank (Exim) has said it will start work on the structuring of financing for Bulgaria’s proposed AP1000 reactor new-build project with the aim of meeting a mid-2025 deadline set by parliament, the Bulgarian energy ministry said in a statement.

The statement said that under a December 2023 decision by parliament, negotiations on external institutional financing for construction of the first of two potential Westinghouse-made AP1000 pressurised water reactor units at Bulgaria’s existing Kozloduy site need to conclude by the end of July 2025.

“The construction of new nuclear capacities at the site of the Kozloduy nuclear power station is one of the main priorities in the work of the current government,” said Bulgaria’s caretaker minister of energy* Vladmir Malinov during a meeting with Reta Jo Lewis, head of the Exim bank.