Trump, Musk and Gates show interest in Belene NPP reactors for data centers

The reactors from the Belene NPP project will not be sold for now, as they can be used to build a power plant that would power future data centers in Bulgaria. This was reported by GERB leader Boyko Borissov, on Monday, as the reason for coalition partner BSP's surprising refusal to sell the unused nuclear equipment to Ukraine.

According to him, one of the world's top 3 investment funds contacted Bulgaria and expressed "extreme interest in building huge data centers in Bulgaria" and told the country to hold off the sale. Borissov, however, declined to name the fund.

In addition, US President Donald Trump has also show interest in the Bulgarian reactors. During his previous administration he had sent groups of experts to see them, the GERB leader also said. 

I want President Trump, Musk, Microsoft, Bill Gates… they have shown interest, and if we can do this, I don't believe there is a Bulgarian who doesn't want the most powerful artificial intelligence to be here. I'm thinking about the country, if you understand me," he said, adding that the reactors are 100% Bulgarian and the refusal to sell them did not mean a return to Russia.

According to Borissov, if for Europe the new industrial focus is the military-industrial complex, then for the US and Great Britain it is artificial intelligence centers and data centers.

They can't be made everywhere; you need at least 1,000 MW of direct power current. Imagine an entire field, thousands of acres with rooms with AI computers working at maximum capacity," Borissov hypothesized.

That’s why, two things were needed – direct electricity current, which only nuclear reactors, thermal power plants or gas plants can provide, and a large river, a reservoir for cooling - Kozloduy has both, thinks Boyko Borissov.

According to him, something like this would cost tens of billions of leva and could create many jobs, especially for people who are leaving the IT sector when artificial intelligence replaces them.

He said that there were two Bulgarian nuclear reactors in perfectly preserved condition, which cost 600 million dollars, and we can always sell them if we decide.

If we, together with the largest American funds and Westinghouse, build such data centers together, and these reactors work only for them, then I don't know if we should give the reactors away for 1 billion leva,” concluded Borissov.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov