Bulgaria backs down on nuclear reactors restart

* PM Stanishev seeks more EU money to compensate closure

* Sofia says Brussels unlikely to allow restart

By Anna Mudeva

SOFIA, March 6 (Reuters) - Bulgaria has backed down on plans to restart two Soviet-era nuclear reactors and will now focus on lobbying for more European Union compensation for the shut units, officials said on Friday.

Parliament gave the Socialist-led government a mandate in January to seek a permission from the EU to reopen the reactors to cover losses caused by cuts in Russian gas supplies during its contract dispute with Ukraine and the economic crisis.

But Brussels has indicated that any attempt to restart them would be blocked, not least because of opposition from traditionally anti-nuclear member states such as Austria.

Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev met European Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs in Brussels on Thursday to demand more EU money to compensate Bulgaria for losses caused by the units' closure, the government said in a statement.

"We will hardly have another (energy) crisis by the end of the year that will provoke a reopening of the reactors ... And all the signals (from Brussels) show that the possibility for a restart is very tiny," a government spokesman said.