Belene

Belene (Bulgarian: Белене) is a town in Pleven Province, Northern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Belene Municipality. The town is situated on the right bank of the Danube river, close to the town of Svishtov. As of December 2009, it has a population of 8,905 inhabitants. Belene was proclaimed a town in 1964, which is celebrated every year in the first week of September with a market and cultural events. The place is best known for the Belene prison (formerly a labor camp) on Belene Island and as the proposed site of Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant, which has been under construction 7 km east of the town until it was interrupted in 1990 due to the severe economic crisis that followed the fall of...