Bulgaria Kick-Starts Belene Nuclear Power Project
Date: 04-Sep-08
Country: BULGARIA
Author: Tsvetelia Ilieva
Socialist Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev cut the first sod at the 2,000 megawatt plant at the Danube town of Belene, expected to come online in 2013-14.
"Belene ... will be key for the future of Bulgaria's energy sector," Stanishev said. "The planet is changing, without developing nuclear energy we cannot stop climate change."
Bulgaria belongs to the countries which believe nuclear energy is part of the solution to climate change and proponents say atomic power emits almost no greenhouse gases.
State power utility NEK, which will have 51 percent of the plant, has contracted Russia's Atomstroyexport, along with France's Areva and Germany's Siemens, to build Belene -- Bulgaria's second nuclear plant after Kozloduy.
The companies will prepare the site for construction by the end of the year and works on building the first reactor are expected to start in May next year.
The EU newcomer hopes nuclear power will restore its leading position as an electricity exporter in southeast Europe, which it lost after shutting down two Soviet reactors at Kozloduy at the end of 2006 as a condition to join the bloc.
EXPORTS
Bulgaria used to cover about 85 percent of the power shortages in the Balkans, selling electricity to Greece, Macedonia and Albania. But exports fell 42 percent to 4.5 million kilowatt hours in 2007 from 7.7 million in 2006, NEK data showed.
Bulgaria initially started to build the Belene plant in the 1980s and imported a Soviet-designed 1,000 megawatt reactor.
But it froze the project in which it had invested more than US$1 billion following environment protests and due to lack of finances after the fall of the communist regime in 1989.
The plan was revived in 2004 and the Russian contractor agreed to buy back the old reactor.
NEK hopes to pick a partner for a 49 percent stake in Belene between Germany's RWE and Belgian Electrabel, owned by France's GDF Suez, by the end of the month.
Analysts say RWE and Electrabel may opt to split the minority stake to hedge the risks for the hefty investment which may jump to more than 6 billion euros due to rising global energy and construction costs.
Bulgaria has contracted French bank BNP Paribas to advise it on raising funding for the project.
The Belene project is expected to boost employment in the region as construction works would require up to 10,000 people and the plant itself will employ 2,000, officials said.
Most people in Bulgaria, a country of 7.6 million, support nuclear energy. Many eastern European countries, including Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Lithuania, also plan to build new reactors or extend the life of existing ones.
(Editing by James Jukwey)