Rosatom Yet to Give Up on Bulgaria's Abandoned Belene N-Plant
Energy | February 28, 2013, Thursday| 1135 views
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Rosatom spokesperson Sergey Novikov. Photo by EPA/BGNES
Russian state-owned energy company Rosatom is yet to give up on the construction of the Belene nuclear power plant project in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria's Parliament confirmed Wednesday the country's decision to abandon the project.
The vote was prompted by a recent referendum on the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the country.
Under the law, the recent referendum results imposed for the Belene NPP to be put back on the Parliament's agenda, as voter turnout slightly exceeded 20%. 61% of the voters said "yes" to the construction of a new nuclear power plant; 39% cast a "no" ballot.
Rosatom spokesman Sergey Novikov has told the Bulgarian National Radio that Wednesday's vote was "no surprise."
"The current Parliament basically confirmed the decision taken some time ago, thus disregarding the opinion of the Bulgarian citizens who took part in the referendum," he said.
However, Novikov noted that Wednesday's vote does not put an end to the project for good.
He suggested that Bulgaria's new government and Parliament may decide to revive the Belene nuclear power plant.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and his GERB government resigned last week amidst mass protest rallies against unbearable utility bills and wide-spread poverty that turned into a civil unrest against the political model of ruling the country.
On Thursday, Bulgaria's President Rosen Plevneliev set a date for early elections - May 12, 2013.
Borisov's GERB government scrapped the project for the construction of Belene back in March 2012, declaring it economically unfeasible. The move led Russia's Rosatom to file a suit with an international arbitration court in Paris.
After it was first started in the 1980s, the construction of Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant at Belene on the Danube was stopped in the early 1990s over lack of money and environmental protests.
The Belene NPP has been de facto frozen since the fall of 2009 when the previously selected strategic investor, the German company RWE, which was supposed to provide EUR 2 B in exchange for a 49% stake, pulled out.
Tags: resignation, GERB, party, leader, Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, Rosen Plevneliev, president, NPP, Referendum, RWE, Dmitry Medvedev, Atomstroyexport, Boyko Borisov, Vladimir Putin, Russia, Nuclear Power Plant, Belene, BSP
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