EC Blacklists Bulgarian Thermal Power Plant at Top Polluter

Bulgaria’s thermal power plant “Republika” near the western city of Pernik has been blacklisted as the largest emitter of sulfur oxide in the EU.

This has become clear from the new European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register – E-PRTR – launched Monday by the European Commission and the European Environment Agency.

The register contains information about the emissions of pollutants to air, water and land by industrial facilities throughout Europe. It includes annual data for 91 substances and covers more than 24 000 facilities in 65 economic activities.

The register is accessible HERE. It provides details of pollutants released from individual facilities to air, water and land in 2007. The information in the register covers 30% of total NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions (i.e. most emissions from sources other than transport) and 76% of total SOx (s ulphur oxides) emissions to air in the EU-27 countries and Norway.

According to the register, the Republika Thermal Power Plant near Pernik emits almost 15 300 tons of sulfur oxide per year; it is closely followed by a plant in Poland emitting 15 000 tons per year.

In June 2000, the Regional Environment Directorate in Pernik ordered the stopping of the first unit of the Replublika Plant, which is the oldest power generator in all of Bulgaria, and has no purification filters. Unit 1 was actually taken out of exploitation earlier but since the replacing unit had technical problems, it had to be restarted.

The plant appealed the order but it was eventually confirmed by the Pernik Administrative Court, and the unit had to be shut.

The Republika Thermal Power Plant has been in operation since 1951. It has a production capacity of 180 MW.