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Most of the Bulgarians wanted to see the 2000 MW Belene project built, according to sociologists. Photo by BGNES
More than half of the people in Bulgaria support the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant, which has just been abandoned by the Borisov Cabinet, a poll shows.
After years of delaying the final decision on the fate of the controversial Bulgarian-Russian project, the Bulgarian government on Wednesday said it gave up on the construction of a second NPP because it was "unfeasible" and "too costly".
According to a public opinion survey of Gallup International in January-February which included 1002 respondents over 18 years of age, 51% of the Bulgarians approved the construction of the Belene NPP, 22% were against, and 27% were undecided.
"On the construction of the Belene NPP – the positions of the society and the authorities in Bulgaria demonstrate a large degree of discrepancy. The main opponents to the project – primarily right-wingers, justify their positions with the dependency on Russia but this view is widely unpopular with the public," explained Kolyo Kolev, a sociologist, as cited by the Russian news agency Regnum.
He said there was a controversy in the Bulgarian government's position noting that even though it said Bulgaria did not need the Russian project at Belene, it was mulling having US company Westinghouse build a new unit at the Kozloduy NPP.
"Many of the Bulgarians focus on economic interests not on political arguments. The Bulgarian-Russian friendship is no worse than the Bulgarian-American friendship... Many Bulgarians realize that because of the US geostrategic interests Bulgaria can miss good economic opportunities," Kolev is quoted as saying.
In his words, the people in Bulgaria failed to realize that a new NPP will not help relieve the electricity prices immediately, since the project would take a few years to be build. Kolev added that with the rising electricity prices people in Bulgaria have comprehended how expensive green energy is.
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