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EU Rejects Kozloduy Appeal, Even in the Face of Rising Electricity Prices

By Eric McErlain
From the EU Observer:
Bulgaria's plea to restart two reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant has suffered a blow, with the European Commission appearing to reject the idea despite growing pressure from the Balkans in support of Sofia.

On Monday (13 March), four Balkan countries - Serbia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Albania and Croatia - adopted a declaration, asking the EU to allow Bulgaria to resume electricity production and warning of grim consequences if the two reactors were not reopened.

"We are concerned about the current electricity supply problems of the region, which could result in higher economic and political instability," the common statement, cited by the BBC, said. The statement also claimed that electricity prices had jumped 80-100% when compared with last year.

Prior to the shut-down in 2006, Bulgaria exported 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, the amount that roughly equals to what the two nuclear reactors in Kozloduy produced.
I guess the EU would rather have these member states importing Russian natural gas to generate their electricity. For more from our archive, click here.
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Joffan said…
Crazy.

I suggest that Bulgaria accepts that Kozloduy 3 & 4 are closed, paints over the numbers and looks to open the new reactors Kozloduy 7 & 8.
March 14, 2007 at 12:42 PM
Anonymous said…
Another idea would be that the Bulgarians tell the EU bureaucrats to stuff it. A nation has a duty to its citizens to look out for their welfare. Energy supply is a national interest. It makes no sense that the EU would compel a sovereign state to stick it's head in the noose of relying on Russian natural gas.
March 14, 2007 at 5:13 PM
Joffan said…
Yes... The Bulgarians would of course need to return the compensation money given to them by the EU but I imagine that was already part of the Bulgarians' restart request.
March 15, 2007 at 2:29 PM
Anonymous said…
Sounds like it's a no-brainer. Return the bribe money and go a long way towards energy self-sufficiency, or accept the bribe and put yourself at the mercy of your Russian natural gas supplier. A lot of good that EU payoff will be to the Bulgarians when they find themselves at the end of a short rope held by Putin.
March 16, 2007 at 1:57 PM
Anonymous said…
1. Neither of the mentioned countries had different problems than during other years - Albania even managed to crank up its electricity availability from January because of upcoming elections.
2. Cernavoda 2 comes on-line after summer, keeping the existing over-capacity in the region well on level.
3. None of the involved countries in the region has a development plan for energy efficiency and/or renewable energy.

conclusion: the discussion about Kozloduy 3 and 4 is only to try to get more compensation from the EU...
April 3, 2007 at 7:29 AM
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