nuclear-news

Bulgaria considers abandoning expensive nuclear project

Bulgaria delays Belene nuclear project, Daily Times, 17 March 12

* PM says Belene project cannot go ahead without Western investors

* Final decision on 2,000MW project likely to be delayed

SOFIA: Bulgaria will abandon plans to build a 2,000 megawatt nuclear power plant on the Danube River if it cannot attract sufficient Western funding for the 8 billion euros ($10.5 billion) project, Prime Minister Boiko Borisov said on Friday.

Borisov told national BNT channel he had sent ministers to Moscow last
month to tell Russian officials that Sofia will not build the Belene
plant, for which it had contracted Russian state firm Atomstroyexport.
Borisov said the Belene project could not go ahead if it fails to
attract Western investors and has clear economic and financial
benefits for the European Union’s poorest country. ……Sofia has to
decide by the end of the month whether or not to push ahead with the
project, which had raised diplomatic, safety and financial concerns,
but Delyan Dobrev, nominated for economy and energy minister, said the
deadline is likely to be extended again. Bulgaria’s allies in Brussels
and Washington have long expressed concerns that a new Russian-made
nuclear plant will increase Bulgaria’s dependence on Russia which may
use its energy might for a political influence. The nuclear disaster
in Japan last year led to increased pressure on Bulgaria from
environmentalists and lobby groups to abandon the project which, they
say, will be built near an earthquake-prone area and will be too
expensive.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012%5C03%5C17%5Cstory_17-3-2012_pg4_3

March 17, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, EUROPE