In addition to Ukrainian experts, American experts also checked the condition of the equipment for the Belene NPP

Experts from the USA have completed a joint technical evaluation of the equipment for the Belene NPP, the American Embassy in Bulgaria announced. At the request of the governments of Bulgaria and Ukraine, a US technical team arrived in Sofia on May 10 for meetings with Bulgarian government officials to prepare for the inspection of nuclear equipment in Belene, the US embassy said.

From May 13 to 16, American, Bulgarian and Ukrainian experts performed an on-site technical assessment of selected equipment for nuclear reactors of the VVER/B-466 type, which has been stored for several years in Belene.

The purpose of the inspection was to provide a third-party assessment of the condition and conservation measures used to maintain the equipment, BTA writes.

The US government team included technical experts from the US Department of State, the US Department of Energy, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory, who worked together with representatives of the Government of Bulgaria, the National Electric Company of Bulgaria (NEC) and a technical delegation from the National Nuclear Energy Production Company of Ukraine "Energoatom", the announcement states.

Accelerating the process of supplying equipment for the Belene NPP to Ukraine was the topic of the conversation between the energy ministers of the two countries, Vladimir Malinov and German Galushchenko, held in a video conference call on May 7. The Bulgarian Energy Minister informed about the preliminary talks he led with representatives of the National Assembly, as a result of which a good horizon was reached for finalizing the deal in the coming months. We perfectly understand the importance of this process and will make every effort to speed it up as much as possible, said Malinov.

The "Denkov" cabinet decided to end the project for a second nuclear power plant, and the parliament - to sell the Russian reactors to Ukraine.

In July 2023, the National Assembly tasked the Minister of Energy to conduct negotiations with the Minister of Energy of Ukraine or his representative for the purpose of selling the equipment intended for the Belene NPP project. According to the adopted decision, the sale price cannot be lower than what Bulgaria paid for the equipment - nearly BGN 1.2 billion.