Candidates for a construction contractor of a nuclear power plant at the Danube river town of Belene were to submit their bids to the National Electricity Transmission Company by June 27.
Preliminary information shows that by the end of the deadline set at 2 pm France's Framatome, Russia's Atomexportstroy and Czech Skoda have submitted the bidding offers.
The offers will be evaluated by July 17.

The contract with the selected bidder is scheduled to be signed on January 23, 2006. The contractor is put into operation the first nuke unit five years after the signing ceremony.
In the late 1980s Bulgaria spent USD 1.3 B on infrastructure and foundations at the Danube-located Belene for a 1,000- MW reactor, supplied by then Czechoslovakia.

The government gave the final go-ahead for Belene construction at the beginning of April this year, reviving the controversial plan that was mothballed amid environmentalists' protests.
It would cost another USD 3 B to complete the project for building a new plant of maximum capacity of 2000 megawatts, with two VVER-type reactors.