Two safety scares in June at nuclear plants in Slovenia and the Czech Republic have led to renewed calls for Europe to abandon nuclear power. But with energy prices soaring, the nuclear sector is actually on the rise.
The EU already has the highest number of nuclear plants in the world and Bulgaria is leading those member states determined to increase their nuclear dependence.
The Bulgarian government is pushing the European Commission for at least another €550 million to compensate it for the forced closure of its Kozloduy nuclear power complex.
SOFIA, Bulgaria: Plagued by electricity shortages, Bulgaria on Wednesday announced it was considering plans to reopen nuclear reactors it had to shut down before joining the European Union a year ago.
The two Russian-made units at Bulgaria's only nuclear plant, Kozlodui, were switched off just hours before the Balkan country joined the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007.
(Text of report in English by Bulgarian national news agency BTA website) Ihtiman, 14 December: At the moment the fuel of Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant is being replaced by a better one, Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) President Sergei [Sergey] Tsochev told reporters in Ihtiman. The licences for the operation of Units 5 and 6 expire in 2009 and the NRA expects to be submitted a report by the N-plant on their safety in 2008. The upgrading of the units will be completed within the validity of the licences, Tsochev said. An invitation has been extended to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and by the end of 2008 it will inspect the observance of the respective technical requirements at the Bulgarian N-plant.
The government's goal for a planned nuclear power plant is to make the country an energy superpower, but it may do little to help present shortages
by Besar Likmeta - A government-backed proposal to build a nuclear power plant in Albania has made Iran envious, the Italians interested, and the Greeks worried. But for many Albanians, the initiative is just the latest piece of rhetoric from a political class that seems unable to solve the puzzle of a deep energy crisis.
Blaga Bangieva (News.bg, 30.11.2007) - The modernization of units 5 and 6 of nuclear power plant Kozlodui costs 491 million EUR, stated Ivan Genov, executive director of the association on a meeting in Kozlodui by the occasion of the 20th anniversary of unit 5.
Mon 03 Dec 2007 - Rene Beekman, SOFIA ECHO
Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP) sold close to 530 megawatts electricity on the free market, of which only 80 megawatts went to the National Electricity Company (NEC).
18 October 2007, Thursday
PM Stanishev (left) and Finance Minister Oresharski (right) have both backed the project to the hilt so far, and Bulgaria's low foreign debt allows the cabinet to underwrite the loans.
Bulgaria's cabinet decided on Monday to double the amount of debt it is willing to guarantee for the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant at Belene.
SOURCE: Dnevnik (Bulgaria)
The Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF), administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), will grant 39 mln euro ($53.1 mln) to Bulgaria for the construction of a thermal power plant on the site of the Kozloduy nuclear plant, Dnevnik daily reported on July 8, 2007.
Dnevnik (Bulgaria) The nuclear decommissioning fund will pay for the transportation of the spent nuclear fuel from Bulgarian nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy's small units under the NPP proposal for amendments to an energy ministry ordinance.
