The Bulgarian government Wednesday launched the construction of the nuclear power plant at Belene, which Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev described as the "largest project in the last 18 years."
The 5.8-billion-dollar plant with two 1,000 megawatt generators is being built on the Danube 220 kilometres northeast of Sofia. Bulgaria already runs the Russian-built Kosloduy plant some 100 kilometres upstream of Belene.
Bulgaria, a member of the European Union since 2007, awarded the Belene project to the Russian firm Atomexportstroy in late 2006. French and German giants Areva and Siemens were hired as sub- contractors in the project.
The Belene project was launched in the early 1980s and revived in 2002, after shelving it in 1991 amid protests held in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Initially, the builders need to tear down the more than two decades old foundation, before starting the construction in March and completing it in late 2013.
The German car market is facing its worse downturn, the nation's auto industry association warned Wednesday as the deepening sense of economic gloom in the country leads to a shakeout in the industry and the prospects of big job cuts.
A comedy starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon as a couple trying to avoid their families at Christmas debuted in first place over the weekend at North American box offices, according to preliminary studio estimates issued Sunday.