Thousands in Sofia backed the reopening of Units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant at a rally organized by the Forward Movement. Krassimir Karakchanov, leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, told journalists that 10,000 people gathered. For their part, police said the demonstration was 7,000 or 8,000-strong.

Hundreds of Kozloduy employees were bused in to join the protest, BTA reported.

The participants carried slogans reading "Forward for a strong energy sector in Bulgaria". The leaders of the Forward Movement coalition led the rally. It was backed by the United People's Party and Bulgarian Social Democracy - Euro-Left. Vladimir Vladimirov, President of the Podkrepa trade union chapter of nuclear power operators, addressed the protesters.

The leaders of the Forward Movement presented to Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev a declaration calling for the reopening of the 440-megawatt Units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant and of the Bobov Dol thermal power plant.

The document, which called for a new energy strategy that would rev up the energy sector, will be presented to the European Commission Representation in Sofia on Monday.

The Forward Movement believes that now that Bulgaria is undergoing a crisis after it was cut off from Russian natural gas supplies, a new energy strategy should end the dependence on a single supplier of primary energy resources; prioritize the use of local coal, biomass and waste; and promote energy efficiency.

The government's number one task is to objectively assess the situation and weigh in advance the benefits and the disadvantages of a reopening of Kozloduy units, Stanishev said, meeting with the organizers of the demonstration, the government information service said.

He set forth the government's reasons for taking steps to start technical preparations for the reopening of a Kozloduy unit, adding that putting it into operation would take 45 days. He said Bulgaria should be ready to handle the situation if the Russia-Ukraine gas conflict continued, and recalled that he had informed European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso about this option. Bulgaria has submitted to Brussels a list of energy projects for EU financing - expansion of the Chiren gas storage facility and a linkup with the Romanian and Greek gas transmission networks, the prime minister said.

The restart of Kozloduy's Units 3 and 4 would cost Bulgaria 600 million euro and would be the most expensive election campaign, Mincho Spassov, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Security and Public Order and deputy leader of the National Movement for Surge and Stability, said in Varna on Saturday. He said Bulgaria would have to pay 600 million euro to decommission the two units if they were restarted.

The option of holding a referendum on the reopening of Kozloduy units has not been discussed sufficiently, Spassov also said. It is not clear if nuclear fuel supplies have been agreed with Moscow and at what price, he said, adding that this would make Bulgaria even more dependent on Russia. The solution to natural gas-related problems lies in the south, not in the north, according to Spassov. He also said that Iran had given Bulgaria the green light to work more actively on the Nabucco project.