Belene
| Belene (Белене) | |||
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| Basic data | |||
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| State : |
 Bulgaria
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| Oblast : | Pleven | ||
| Residents : | 7602 (December 31, 2016) | ||
| Coordinates : | 43 ° 39 ' N , 25 ° 7' E | ||
| Height : | 24 m | ||
| Postal code : | 5930 | ||
| Telephone code : | (+359) 0658 | ||
| License plate : | EH | ||
| administration | |||
| Mayor : | Milen Dulev | ||
| Website : | obshtina.belene.net | ||
The small town of Belene is located in northern Bulgaria in the Pleven Province . It is located directly on the Danube , the nearest town is Swishtow . Belene became famous for the labor camp on the island of Belene , where many opponents of the regime were murdered during the communist rule. Since 2006, the city has given its name to Belene Cove , a bay on Livingston Island in Antarctica.
Catholics
The city is home to two Roman Catholic and one Orthodox churches . Although the Catholics in Bulgaria form a tiny minority of 50,000 believers, they make up the majority in Belene with its 6,000 Roman Catholic inhabitants.
Belene nuclear power plant
In the recent past, Belene became famous for the planned construction of the Belene nuclear power plant . After the Kozloduy nuclear power plant, the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant was to be built in Belene in order to compensate for the loss of production caused by the shutdown of the units in Kozloduy. The nuclear power plant should go online around 2012. With the exit of the investor RWE in October 2009, the completion of the project was already uncertain. In view of the increasing costs, the Bulgarian government decided on March 28, 2012 to withdraw from the project. Instead, a gas power plant is to be built at the site.
Twin cities
The Danube at Belene
The Belene Island
Sons and daughters
- Vincentius Eugenio Bossilkoff (1900–1952), Bulgarian Catholic bishop of the Nicopolis diocese