The Belene nuclear power plant (NPP) is planned to be sited at the bank of the Danube River, which forms the border between Bulgaria and Romania. Technical design and construction works first started in the nineteen eighties, but the Bulgarian government halted the project in 1990 due to environmental protests and shortage of funds. In a surprise announcement by then Prime Minister and former Bulgarian king Simeon Saxe Coburg Gotha, the government put the Belene project back on the agenda in 2003.

The consortium of Russian Atomstroyexport, Areva and Siemens that won the tender for the design and construction of the NPP offers to build an AES-92 power station, featuring two units of 1000 MW light-water reactors (VVER 1000/B466) with a projected lifetime of 60 years. I&C is to be delivered by Areva and Siemens. The construction contract has a value of approximately 4 Billion Euro within 5 years. The total construction budget is estimated on 10 Billion Euro. Construction works were initially expected to begin in 2005, however, when the contract was signed in January 2008, a new date was set for before the end of that year, but this has again been postponed until 2010. Currently, the project is on hold, although Atomstroyexport is preparing large parts.

The formal opening ceremony of beginning construction works at the Belene site took place on September 3rd, 2008. This appeared only to be a PR stunt and apart from removal of usable materials from the old project and the erection of administrative buildings and a visitors centre outside the fence of the power station, no construction has taken place so far. The first unit is planned to be constructed between early 2010 and December 2013, and the second unit between Summer 2010 and July 2014.

Financial consultant BNP Paribas' contract ended 31 December 2009 without finding any interested investors for the Bulgarian 51%. The then time Bulgarian government then opened negotiations with the Russian government for a 3,8 Billion Euro loan with the condition of a 100% Bulgarian government guarantee. Greenpeace pointed out to the European Commission that this would be illegal state aid.

The Bulgarian government also poored 300 Million Bulgarian Leva extra capital in the Bulgarian Energy Holding with the explicit aim of being used for the Belene project. Greenpeace filed a complaint for illegal state aid to the European Commission, which is currently under investigation.

In 2008, the German utility RWE was chosen as strategic investor with a foreseen stake of 49%. After heavy international public criticism during most of 2008, the company started to look for partners in order to dillute the risk. Electrabel / GdF Suez withdrew its interest in February 2009. Since then, RWE became the target of a strong public campaign to withdraw its part, culminating in open critique from some of its large shareholders during the 2009 AGM. The company announced not to invest a single Euro into the project before there was full clarity about the financing of the Bulgarian 51%, it would be promised full control over the quality of the project, commission new seismic studies and start talks with other possible partners to spread the risk. These included InterRAO from Russia, Fortum from Finland and two unnamed Swedish companies. However, Fortum and Vattenfall denied all interest. On 28 October 2009, RWE withdrew from Belene.

With that, Belene is again 100% in the hands of Bulgarian utility NEK.

Since around 2007, the right of centre Blue Coalition opposition party in Bulgaria has taken a critical stance towards the Belene project. The party winning the 2009 elections, right of centre GERB, announced it will not put any government finance into Belene.

After the elections, the new government did a full investigation into the way the Belene project was managed. It found out that the budget of 4 Billion was a lie and that construction costs would become around 10 Billion. It also found out that already around 500 Million Euro had been invested, from which tens of Millions of Euro are unaccounted for. It is rumoured that cancelation of the contract with Atomstroyexport will cost around 800 Million Euro in compensation. The government put the project on hold, pending a complete reorganisation and new feasibility study, which is expected to be finished before the end of 2010.

In the mean time, Russian Atomstroyexport and the Russian government started an offensive to save the project - their first new nuclear project in the EU. It offers to finance the first two years of construction - now estimated on around 4 Billion Euro - which by lack of government guarantee (illegal under EU law and too risky for the Bulgarian budget) would have to be guaranteed by NEK.

The Bulgarian government announced further it is willing to lower Bulgarian participation in the project to as low as 20%. It is unclear, however, who besides Russian InterRAO, who might be allowed to obtain between 15 and 25% of the project, would be interested.

In 1981, the Bulgarian government decided to build six nuclear reactors of the VVER 1000/320 type near the small town of Belene in the North of Bulgaria. Construction started in 1985. When in 1989 the communist government fell, only the base-slab for two reactors, as well as the frame for one and reactor vessels and pressure vessels and piping for two blocks were finished.

In 1990, the Bulgarian Academy of Science published a "White Book" with the conclusion that the Belene NPP project should be dropped for economic, environmental and social reasons. The project was put on hold in 1991 and finally dropped in 1992 for environmental and economic reasons.

Bulgaria at that time ran six nuclear reactors: four of the VVER 440/230 type and two VVER 1000/320 reactors, all situated near the town of Kozloduy. The G7 top in Munich in 1992 called on Bulgaria to close the first generation VVER 440/230 reactors (Kozloduy 1 to 4), as close analysis showed these reactors can never be upgraded to a sufficiently safe level. Bulgaria agreed with this in the EU Accession negotiations, and closed the blocks Kozloduy 1 and 2 in 2002 and later the blocks 3 and 4 in 2006.

On 6 April 2003, Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha announced that the Belene NPP will be revisited – proposed are two blocks.

After a tendering procedure marred with allegations of corruption, a Russian / French / German consortium consisting of Atomstroyexport, Areva and Siemens signed a 4 Billion Euro contract for the delivery of two VVER 1000/B466 reactors in an AES-92 nuclear power station. The only other AES-92 power plant is under construction in India.

Bulgaria then looked for a strategic investor. It choose in the end RWE, after all other contenders with the exception of Electrabel / GdF Suez had withdrawn their interest because of corruption allegations or the feeling too much risk was involved. RWE was to get 49% of the project, while the state utility NEK was to hold a majority control of 51%.

During the following years, it became increasingly clear that the project is extremely risky, both for environmental reasons (the site has known strong earthquakes, one of which killed 120 people in the nearby town of Svishtov in 1977) and economic reasons. Financial advisor BNP Paribas had to concede in 2008 while it couldn't find any bank willing to lend money for the Bulgarian part of the project. Also bringing NEK together with other strategic energy assets like the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, Bulgargaz, one of the Maritza Iztok coal power plants and the Sofia heating company did not bring sufficient trust in the banking world. Bulgaria then decided to address Russian prime minister Putin on his offer to provide a 3,8 Billion Euro loan for the project.

RWE in the mean time came under heavy criticism in Germany from the public and several key shareholders for its participation in the project. It seeked to dillute its risk by trying to find other partners. Electrabel / GdF Suez withdrew its interest in early 2009. In late spring 2009, RWE announced it was talking with InterRAO from Russia, Fortum from Finland and two unnamed Swedish companies for participation in its 49%. It furthermore refused to invest any money into the project as long as there was no clarity about how the Bulgarian 51% was to be financed.

Although construction was planned to start in 2005, to date no construction work has taken place yet, and in most recent studies, Belene has been removed from the "under construction" lists.