less than five billion euro. As no major European or American investor appeared, the talks continued to yield no results. This led to the official termination of the Belene project in March 2012. A thermal power plant using natural gas from the then-planned South Stream pipeline was proposed to be built on the site, while the reactor supplied for Unit 1 was foreseen to be built as Unit 7 at the Kozloduy NPP. In June 2016, the International Court of Arbitration awarded Atomstroyexport €620 million in compensation for equipment already manufactured for the plant, which will be delivered to Bulgaria following payment. Possible project restart After the election in May of 2013 the new Bulgarian government of Plamen Oresharski (Socialist Party) started to speak publicly about restarting the project. In 2016 discussions took place with Rosatom, the manufacturer of the reactors, about the possibility of installing one at Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant and selling the second one to a third party. An alternative is a privately financed completion of Belene. On 7 June 2018, the Bulgarian Parliament voted to abolish the moratorium on the construction of the power plant. The aim of the government is to complete the project through funding by a strategic investor, what interest has so far been declared by several companies. Minister of Energy should develop an investor selection procedure and propose options for structuring the project by 31 October 2018. According to the Minister, the plant can be completed within 7–8 years. In December 2019, the Bulgarian energy ministry said it had selected five companies among the 13 applications received to participate in the project. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) and Rosatom as potential strategic investors. Framatome and General Electric (GE) have also been selected; Framatome expressed interest in providing safety systems, GE offered design and supply equipment, turbines, compressors and transformers. Technical Features The AES 92 variant proposed for implementation at the Belene NPP site is a new generation VVER type reactor that has been licensed by regulatory authorities in Russia. It has been declared to meet all safety requirements as well as recommendations from the IAEA and INSAG and has been also confirmed by a special analysis of leading experts from EDF based on the recognized European Utility Requirements. This variant of the AES can make use of the two partially completed Belene NPP reactors started in