Bulgaria Increases Pressure to Reopen 2 Nuke Reactors

Politics » BULGARIA IN EU | January 12, 2007, Friday // 00:00

Bulgaria will try to push the European Commission to let it reopen two nuclear units closed due to safety concerns, Energy Minister Rumen Ovcharov said on Friday.

In an interview for Reuters, he was adamant that if not, the country will seek to raise the EUR 570 M offered by Brussels to help pay for mothballing four of Kozloduy's six reactors to EUR 1 B as compensation.

The Balkan country agreed to shut down two 440 MW nuclear reactors at its Kozloduy plant at the end of 2006 ahead of its entry into the bloc on January 1.

Now, using its new EU member status and pointing to reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency that say upgrades have improved safety levels at the plant, Sofia has revived hopes to overcome concern among older EU members and restart the units.

"There is a heavy power regime in Albania," Minister Ovcharov said. There are serious power shortages in Macedonia and Kosovo ... The Commission cannot turn a blind eye to that," he added.

Bulgaria will bring the issue up at the meeting of energy ministers next month, the minister said, "and only after that will we think about compensation."

Until now the leading power exporter in South Eastern Europe, Bulgaria has warned of a potential energy crisis in the region, where it covers 80% of the power deficit.

It exported a record 7.8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2006 but plans almost no exports this year because of the shutdowns.

Analysts say its chances of re-opening the units are slim, as Brussels has taken a hard line on shutting down Soviet-designed reactors in ex-communist Slovakia and Lithuania, which joined the EU in 2004.

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