Saudi Arabian millionaire Osama bin Laden - the main suspect in the terrorist attacks against the U.S. - was interested in the Kozlodui nuclear power plant's waste, said Bulgarian Ivan Ivanov in an interview for Darik radio on Saturday. Ivanov (speaking under an alias) claimed he met with bin Laden when working for one of latter's companies.

Ivanov said he worked for bin Laden for more than a year before meeting him, but refused to reveal the name of the company or the country in which it was located. The company used to build administrative buildings, airports and water treatment plants. It employed experts from different parts of the world, mainly from Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Western Europe and the U.S., and workers from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, added Ivanov.

Ivanov said his meeting with bin Laden took place in mid-April in the vicinity of Peshavar in Pakistan, during a religious gathering. After bin Laden delivered a speech, Ivanov exchanged a few words with him. Bin Laden was interested in acquiring uranium 235, which is contained in nuclear waste, and can only be used for making nuclear bombs, Ivanov said, explaining he is not an expert in this field but was repeating what experts have told him.

Kozlodui power plant management denied having held talks with bin Laden. The executive director, Yordan Yordanov, said that recent information circulated by the media was not true. Earlier this week, following Ivanov's interview, Bulgarian media reported that the plant's management had been in direct contact with bin Laden.

Yordanov said that a day after the terrorist attacks against the U.S., security at the plant was increased.

Stricter discipline requirements were introduced, safety was upgraded and additional measures taken in the 120-kilometre radius around the plant.

On Tuesday, the standing interdepartmental commission on protection of the Kozlodui nuclear power plant discussed ways to increase the security measures and the level of physical protection of the plant. Measures have been undertaken for the air protection of the site on the part of the Defence Ministry, the plant's security directorate and the individual national services of the Interior Ministry, Angelaki Gotsev, an expert on physical protection and security of nuclear facilities in Bulgaria on the Committee for the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy, said after the end of the commission's closed-door meeting.

"The planned measures are adequate and reliable, but this does not mean that they will not be stepped up constantly," Gotsev said. He added that so far there have been no tip-offs for possible threats of terrorist acts. "However, in the wake of the terror in the United States, the four-level readiness scale for protection of the plant was increased one level up," he said.

The last time this happened was during the Kosovo crisis last year.