The European Commission has confirmed that the resumption of Belene NPP after shutdown in 2012 needs to be reassessed as to whether it complies with European rules and whether it complies with the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom Treaty) and possibly with the project to get approval again. This was answered by Brussels on questions of "Democratic Bulgaria", put by its MEP Svetoslav Malinov in September, the party announced on Thursday.

During the discussion of the need to restart the nuclear-power project by attracting a strategic investor to it, a number of nuclear experts have warned that it will need a new assessment by Brussels. Among the reasons were the changes to the nuclear safety requirements following the accident in the Japanese Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011, caused by a tsunami. The Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency also acknowledged that a new EC permit would be needed, but said it would be formal and necessary because of the possible change of the investor in the project, which is currently the National Electric Company (NEC).

The robust advancement of the project, which has a substantial part of the necessary nuclear equipment and a number of regulatory permits, is mentioned by the government as an advantage and an opportunity for its rapid realization. The government's statement is that there are no regulatory barriers to the project, but it does not seem to be the case.

After a two-year procedure, NEK received approval for Belene NPP in Brussels in December 2007 when the European Commission announced that it had "given a favorable opinion on the initiative, as required by the Euratom Treaty." According to the Commission's assessment, the selected project for Belene NPP includes protection against external risks, even earthquakes and plane crashes, but after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the criteria for these protections have been raised.

Svetoslav Malinov (EPP, Democratic Bulgaria) asked two parliamentary questions in September for a written response to the European Commission. The first was the decision of the government to reopen the Belene NPP project and the second on the new requirements for the construction of nuclear power plants in the EU adopted after the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Answers to these questions have already been received, announced from Democratic Bulgaria.

The party recalls that the decision of the National Assembly of March 2012 to freeze nuclear construction is justified by the conviction that high safety standards can only be guaranteed with the most modern technologies; with the fears of seismic risk at the Belene site and the failure of the Republican budget to fund a project with unproven economic efficiency.

After the summer of 2016 NEK was convicted by the Russian contractor of the Atomstroyexport project to pay 1.2 billion leva for ordered and manufactured equipment for Belene NPP and repaid its debt at the end of the same year the GERB government started to seek arguments for the resumption of the project. Two weeks ago, the government approved a procedure to search for majority or minority shareholders in the project. Large electricity consumers will also be expected to have an interest in, or at least want to conclude, power purchase contracts from the future nuclear power plant, which would guarantee markets and revenues to pay for the investment of about BGN 20 billion.

The European Commission has replied to Democratic Bulgaria that "the resumption of the Belene NPP project in 2018 represents a new project within the meaning of Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty." This means that it will prepare a new opinion on compliance of the project with EU rules.

The European Commission stresses that it attaches paramount importance to nuclear safety and the protection of citizens. It recalled that European law was amended after the Fukushima accident to ensure a higher level of nuclear safety, particularly with regard to the assessment of natural hazards, including earthquakes, the party said.

"This means in practice that the new investors that the government is currently looking for will have to agree to go into a project that is not currently approved by the European Commission and will still have to be assessed according to the stringent European criteria after Fukushima," said Svetoslav Malinov. According to him, "there is no investor to agree to this adventure."

"Belene NPP will never be built, but the possibility to steal money from the Bulgarians is still in place." Belene NPP is dead and why does GERB refuse to bury it?", he commented

From Democratic Bulgaria also point out that the European Parliament is also signing a letter to the Bulgarian government, in which it recalls the earthquake of 1977 with Vrancea epicenter, which killed over 120 people and many buildings were demolished in Svishtov and the neighboring villages along the Danube.

The party has urged the government of Boyko Borissv to stop all the actions that can generate new expenses and waste money of Bulgarian taxpayers. "Belene is already a closed page, and we will not allow Borisov to pour money into the pocket of the energy mafia," said the Democratic Bulgaria message.

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