Belene Nuclear Power Plant Canceled, Bulgarian PM Confirms
ENERGY, 9 April 2012
by Sofia News Agency – TRANSCEND Media Service
Bulgaria has quit the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project, the country’s Prime Minister has confirmed.
“During today’s [28 Mar 2012] Council of Ministers Sitting, we decided to terminate the Belene Nuclear Power Plant project,” Borisov told reporters. He added that Bulgaria will pay a further EUR 140 M in order to acquire the reactor initially intended for Belene that is to be completely ready in October.
The reactor will be placed in Bulgaria’s sole nuclear power plant, Kozloduy. Borisov pointed out that the country would have had to pay approximately EUR 10 B for the construction of Belene.
“We cannot afford to pay for it, and there is no way we can make future generations pay,” the Prime Minister declared. He further reminded of the potential risk the project would have posed, as the nuclear power plant was to be built in a seismically active region.
On Thursday, Bulgaria’s newly appointed Economy and Energy Minister Delyan Dobrev will travel to Moscow in order to inform Russia of his country’s decision to scrap the Belene NPP project.
A natural gas power plant will be built in the Danube town of Belene instead.
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