Bulgaria's project to build a second nuclear power plant, the Belene NPP, must be re-examined, according to EU Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger.

Oettinger’s statement was made Tuesday in an interview for the German "Deutschlandfunk" radio as cited by Russian news agency ITAR-TASS comes as Japan is struggling with damages caused to some of its nuclear facilities by the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami, which has led the EU to start reconsidering its own policies on nuclear energy.

The EU Commissioner said Belene needs additional technological and geological safety studies all along with its questionable financing regardless of the fact that the European Commission already granted an approval for the construction of the Belene Nuclear Power Plant as early as 2008.

ITAR-TASS points out that Bulgaria has been unable, until now, to find European investors for the NPP project while Russia is interested in building it, but the latest developments in Japan have shown this project and all other nuclear ones must be analyzed further from safety viewpoint.

EU energy ministers gathered in Brussels Tuesday in an emergency meeting in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Japan, and agreed to stress-test all NPPs operating in the Union.

The German Commissioner has appealed to the participants to coordinate the EU policy in the light of the Japanese nuclear crisis. On Monday, Germany froze the planned extension of the life of its NPPs.

Oettinger’s statement about re-examining the Belene NPP comes just as Bulgaria’s Economy and Energy Minister, Traicho Traikov, reiterated his earlier statements that Bulgaria can decide to build a new unit at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, NPP, on the Danube River, instead of the Belene NPP. Traikov’s reasoning

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.

After selecting the Russian company Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, to build a two 1000-MW reactors at Belene and signing a deal for the construction, allegedly for the price of EUR 3.997 B, with the Russians during Putin's visit to Sofia in January 2008, in September 2008, former Prime Minister Stanishev gave a formal restart of the building of Belene. At the end of 2008, German energy giant RWE was selected as a strategic foreign investor for the plant.

The Belene NPP was de facto frozen in 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.

In late 2009, after the Borisov government took over, Rosatom offered Bulgaria a loan of EUR 2 B so that the construction can continue, in exchange for a stake in the future plant that the Bulgarian government could then buy out by returning the money. The offer was refused by the Borisov Cabinet which also made it clear it would construct the Belene plant only if an European (apparently meaning EU or Western European) strategic investor can be found.

As the contract expired on September 30, 2010, Bulgaria and Russia decided to extend it by 6 months until they reach a final agreement on how much the construction of the Belene NPP will cost.

In mid November, the Bulgarian Energy Holding, NEK's parent company, picked HSBC, one of UK's biggest banks, for a consultant to help it decide how to proceed and attract new investors for the planned Belene nuclear power plant.

In November, shortly after a visit to Sofia by Russian PM Putin, Bulgaria's National Electric Company NEK and Russian state company Rosatom signed a memorandum providing for a final fixed price for the two reactors of EUR 6.298 B.

This sum is still not final since the document is not binding; a final binding agreement for the establishing of a joint company for Belene was expected to emerge in 4-5 months, according to Rosatom head Sergey Kirienko, who was in Sofia to sign the document. Five months later Kirienko's prediction about a final agreement has failed to materialize.

The other non-binding documents on Belene signed at the same time provided for participation in the project of Finnish company Fortum with a share of 1%, and of French company Altran Technologies with a share of 1%-25%. NEK is to keep a majority share of 51%, while Rosatom is also expected to have a share of 25%. Serbia has expressed interest in acquiring a share of 5%-10% but the talks for that have not been finalized yet.

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