Bulgarian Nuclear Power Plant May Get Last Minute Reprieve

On the same day that Russia threatened Georgia and Belarus with a natural gas cutoff, a member of the European Parliament from Finland asked that the European Commission reconsider the closure of a pair of Bulgarian nuclear reactors. Bulgaria had previously agreed to decommission the reactors as a condition of joining the European Union.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Energy, Electricity, Home Heating, Natural Gas, Oil, Russia, Electricity, Bulgaria, Belarus, Georgia

Comments

Anonymous said…

The Uranium Information Centre has some background on the closures of Soviet-designed reactors in new EU members.

The Bulgarian reactors are, apparently, a Russian-designed PWR reactor, not an RBMK like Chernobyl. However, they don't have a full containment building, unlike western reactors.

Bulgaria is apparently planning to build a new, Russian-designed, nuclear plant to replace the lost capacity and more besides.

December 15, 2006 at 6:27 AM

Anonymous said…

The Russian leadership is coldly rational, while the EU seems ran by fear, ignorance and short term greed.

If things go ahead as planned Russians will benefit greatly over the coming generation from gigantic gas exports to Europe.

December 16, 2006 at 3:11 AM

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