Belene Nuclear Power Plant
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The Belene Nuclear Power Plant (Bulgarian: Атомна електроцентрала „Белене“) is a nuclear power plant currently in construction 3 km from Belene and 11 km from Svishtov in Pleven Province, northern Bulgaria, near the Danube River. It is planned to substitute four outdated VVER-440 V230 reactors of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant.
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[edit] History
[edit] Early project
The Belene site was approved for the construction of a second Bulgarian NPP by a Council of Ministers decree on 20 March 1981. The site was handed to the Ministry of Economics on 31 December 1981 and the documentation for the construction site's preparation was prepared in the late 1980 and early 1981 by Energoproekt Sofia. The site's preparation in accordance with the draft projects began in the early 1981.
The foundations of the future power plant were laid in 1987 after the design of Atomenegroproekt Kiev from the USSR and Energoproekt Sofia. The design suggested the construction of four VVER-1000/V 320 reactors. Between 1988 and 1990 40% of the construction work of reactor 1 was finished and 80% of the equipment was supplied. The project was abandoned in 1990 due to the democratic changes in Bulgaria and only conservational work was done.
[edit] Restart
On 20 December 2002 the Council of Ministers made the decision to restart the project due to the future abandonment of four reactors of the Kozloduy NPP. The Ministry of Energetics began to renew the available equipment and examine the possible construction of the new nuclear plant. In February 2003 Minister Milko Kovachev sent letters to six leading companies in the sphere of nuclear energetics asking them to provide up-to-date technical, economic and financial information regarding the project.
A working group of experts was formed by an order of the Ministry of Energetics and Power Resources of 27 May 2003, which included experts from the Ministry of Energetics and Power Resources, the Ministry of Environment and Waters, the Ministry of Transport and Communication, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Agency for Nuclear Regulation, the State Commission for Power Regulation, the State Agency for Civil Protection, the National Electric Company and BulAtom. A programme for the exprert commission's work was approved on 4 July 2003. It includes four stages:
- Pre-project examination and valuation of the environmental effect
- Decision for the construction, organization of an auction and election of a project executor
- Negotations and conclusion of an agreement with the executor
- Construction and putting into operation
It was announced in May 2005 that the electricity produced by the Belene NPP would cost between 3.2 and 3.7 eurocents per kW·h, meaning it would be the most expensive electric power ever produced in Bulgaria. For comparison, the plant producing the most expensive power in the country is currently the Bobovdol Thermal Power Plant selling the National Electric Company electricity for 4.85 stotinki or 2.48 eurocents per kW·h, and the Kozloduy NPP produces electricity for 1.49 stotinki (0.76 eurocents) as of 2005.[1]
In late October 2006 the offer of the French Framatome, the German Siemens and the Russian Atomstroyexport using third-generation VVER-1000/V-446B reactors was approved by the National Electric Company. The offer was selected due to the highest safety level guaranteed by several new independent active and passive safety systems, as well as the option for Atomstroyexport to buy back the old unit supplied in the 1980s. Another reasons was the 60-year operation term. According to the Atomstroyexport president, the first unit would be in operation by 2013 and the second a year later.[1]
[edit] 2004 discrediting letter
An anonymous letter was spread on 4 May 2004, after the governmental decision regarding the plant, claiming that it was planned the Canadian state company AECL would bribe the Bulgarian government in order to be chosen to construct the plant. According to the letter, Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski's agents have contacted high-ranking employees of the Canadian corporation to ask for a commission. It was claimed that one of the agents was Marie Louise, Sakskoburggotski's sister, who had ties in Canada because she had lived there. Ignat Kaneff, a Bulgarian-born Canadian businessman, and his wife Dimitrina, allegedly a former State Security agent, according to the letter planned to conceal the Prime Minister's bribe by bying part of his estates in Bulgaria for an unrealistically high price. Kaneff offered to receive the money as part of a deal for the future Canadian embassy in Sofia.[2]
Information about the letter first appeared in a Canadian newspaper and was spread in Bulgaria several days later, when it was given to Sofia Press journalists after a press conference of the Belene Coalition, which is against the project's implementation.
According to the government, the letter is entirely incorrect, written in Bulgaria and not Canada as proven by expert linguists, the bribe cited ($40 to 80 million) is unrealistically high and Marie Louise had lived in Canada too long ago to have any ties there.[3] Investigations began in Bulgaria and Canada, but without any result. AECL denied to have been demanded a bribe and the discrediting letter's author was not found.
[edit] Criticism
A number of environmental and anti-nuclear organizations (including Greenpeace) have declared their opposition to the plant's construction.
The arguments used by Greenpeace against the project include:[2]
- alleged negative effect on the tourist industry and the agriculture of northern Bulgaria
- alleged safety issues over the Russian technology used (VVER-1000)
- location in a seismic active zone
- too expensive, the money could be better invested in alternative energy sources
- allegedly dangerous in case of a terrorist attack
- alleged problems with the transportation, procession and preservation of the nuclear waste.
Concerns regarding the construction of the plant have mainly been felt in nearby Romania, with articles in the newspapers such as Cotidianul, România Liberă and Ziarul even going as far as comparing the project with Chernobyl despite a new generation of VVER reactors is to be used, and not the cheaper graphite-moderated RBMK series like Chernobyl's.[3]
There is also considerable doubt regarding the project's financial effectiveness, with no economic grounds being published as of May 2006. In addition to this, no investor is willing to execute the project without considerable financial state support.
[edit] References
- ^ Цанев, Белчо. "Дадоха “Белене” на руснаците", Standart News, 2006-10-31. Retrieved on 2006-10-31. (in Bulgarian)
- ^ Press release of Greenpeace about the Belene project (Romanian). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
- ^ "Атака срещу “Белене”", Standart News, 2006-10-18. Retrieved on 2006-10-31. (in Bulgarian)
