Bulgaria’s Economy Minister to sack Kozloduy nuclear plant director
Bulgaria’s caretaker Economy and Energy Minister Assen Vassilev said that he planned to replace 23 officials on the boards of 13 state-owned companies, including the executive director of Kozloduy nuclear power plant Valentin Nikolov, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported on April 19.
Vassilev did not give other names, but said that companies in several industries would be affected by the reshuffle. He said that the new management boards will be tasked with appointing new executive directors at the respective companies.
The change of personnel in the energy sector, in particular, was motivated by the proposals for high price increases made by state-owned companies, instead of following ministry instructions to find “available reserves” in operations, Vassilev said.
(For more on the price hike proposals, read The Sofia Globe report here.)
The announcement of Nikolov’s sacking came on the same day that Vassilev presented to the ministry’s civil council the findings of an investigation at Kozloduy, carried out by Government inspectors.
The findings, described by the ministry as “disturbing”, were passed on to prosecutors and the Finance Ministry’s Public Financial Inspection Agency, local news agency Focus reported. It was not immediately clear, however, whether the investigation’s results were the reason for Nikolov’s firing, the report said.
(Bulgaria’s sole nuclear power plant at Kozloduy. Photo: uvioc/flickr.com)
