I personally sent Minister Traicho Traikov a month ago to Moscow, together with Minister Dyankov to tell the Russians that we won’t build Belene and that we want to pay for the new reactor and pick it up and to take it to Kozloduy, these were the words of Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, he said after the resignation of Traikov as energy minister provoked a storm of comments not only in Bulgaria but also in Russia.
Earlier this week Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported that the contractor for the construction of NPP Belene – Atomstroyexport has decided to reduce tenfold the number of its 50-strong staff on site in Belene at least until a final decision is taken by Bulgaria whether to build the plant or not. Currently, the Russian company is forced to pay the full costs of their activity, which is definitely not to the like of Atomstroyexport. Its representatives, however, noted that it will continue to fulfil its commitments related to the manufacture of equipment ordered.
Newspaper Kommersant adds that despite the reduction of experts on the spot, Russia is in no hurry to put a cross on the project. Official sources have confirmed that Rosatom (editor’s note: – Atomstroyexport’s parent company) has not received an official denial from Sofia, and there were no plans for installation of the reactor in the Kozloduy plant.
A though-provoking thesis was presented by the former head of NPP Kozloduy and former MP in the previous National Assembly, Yordan Kostadinov. According to him, if Bulgaria abandons the Belene deal, this can lead to problems with the project to extend the life of two existing reactors at NPP Kozloduy whose lifetime expires in 2017 and 2019. In his view, the opportunities for modernization of V and VI blocks there and their exploitation for additional 20-25 years has been contracted with a Russian-French consortium, and as the two reactors were made according to the Russian technology, the main opinion for the extension of their lifetime will come from Moscow. If we back out of Belene, I do not know how they will look at this issue, which is extremely important for us, warned Kostadinov.
The opposite view was expressed by current director of NPP Kozloduy Alexander Nikolov: There is no way a Russian unit may get its lifetime extended otherwise than through Russian organizations because it was they who were the chief designers, they are the chief constructor, and the scientific leader of the V and VI block. But I do not think there is practice for Russian companies to create problems in similar situations.
Many experts also spoke for or against Belene or a new block in the country’s first plant at Kozloday, but this dispute seems to be coming too late and it seems now redundant. It is obvious that it would be far more favourable for Sofia to concentrate all efforts and money to extend the lifetime of Kozloduy sixth nuclear block, rather than waste extra money for a project without a clear return on investment figures and vague temporal framework for implementation, as Belene seems to have been in the last ten years.
The strongest argument for such a move is posted on the website of the State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC). There it is clearly indicated that the cost of MWh of electricity produced by NPP Kozloduy is only BGN15.3 per megawatthour. For comparison the Bobov Dol thermal power plant produces the same amount of power for BGN63.1, while Varna TPP – for BGN83.59, while producers who use renewable energy sources pay dozens of times higher to put out a megawatt of electricity.
