The European Commission (EC) had decided "to give a favourable opinion to the initiative of National Electricity Company (NEC) of Bulgaria to build a new nuclear power plant (NPP) on the site of Belene, according to the requirements of articles 41 to 44 of the Euratom Treaty," an EC media statement said on December 7 2007.

The Euratom requirements state that new investments related to nuclear activities have to be communicated to the EC, which should, in return, send a report with its views to the Member State concerned.

The EC said it has held extensive discussions with the nuclear operator and that it concluded that the aspects of the investment in question were in line with objectives of the Euratom Treaty.

NEC addressed future costs for decommissioning of the NPP in its financial provisions, as well as segregated funds for the management of radioactive waste during the NPP's life cycle, the media statement said.

The EC said it took note of the information from the investor that the chosen design at Belene NPP included various passive safety systems as well as improved protection against external hazards, such as earthquakes and air crashes.

The media statement said the EC underlined the importance of diversification of supply sources for nuclear fuel for the whole EU nuclear industry.

If a request would be made for a Euratom loan, the request would be evaluated on its own, economic, financial and environmental merits, the EC said. A positive opinion of the EC on planned investments would be one the conditions to be fulfilled.

The EC said it would closely follow developments of the NPP, especially its environmental aspects.

Construction of the NPP was scheduled to start in 2008. Reactors were foreseen to start production in 2012 or 2013. Total investment was worth around 4 billion euro.

The positive opinion was earlier announced by local and Russian media, though suspicion existed that the publication before the official EC announcement was an attempt to force an EC decision.