| ©THE HEREN REPORTS - EU will not budge on Bulgarian nuclear closure |
| 2010-04-06 |
| The European Commission has dismissed Bulgaria’s concerns over potential power shortages in South East Europe due to the planned shutdown of the country’s units three and four of the Kozloduy nuclear plant by the end of this year. The closure of the Kozloduy plant was one of the conditions agreed with Bulgaria under their EU ascension plan. The country is set to join the EU on 1st January 2007, alongside Romania. The remaining units (five and six) are due to be decommissioned by the end of 2009. A spokeswoman from the EU on Thursday (9th November) confirmed Andris Piebalgs, EU Energy Commissioner’s comments to reporters at a press briefing held in Brussels. “The closure of the power station was well-know for a long time and it is a commitment from Bulgaria itself. So we shouldn’t go back on the issue,” Piebalgs said. He conceded there would be efforts made to generate more power in the region but “there will not be blackouts, so [there] is enough power generation capacity,” he said. The comments were prompted by a letter sent by Bulgarian Minister for Economy and Energy, Rumen Ovcharov, earlier this week, in which he said that power exports to neighbouring regions will be seriously compromised by the closure and electricity shortages could occur as a result. Export restrictions have begun even before the first Kozloduy units are decommissioned, as there have been problems with delayed delivery of coal from Ukraine for the Varna and Rousse thermal plants. This week, Varna operator Czech incumbent CEZ said in a statement that a fresh coal supply deal had been struck with Russia and Vietnam to secure generation for this winter. Heren Energy understands that Bulgaria received a specific amount of money from the European Union to decommission its Kozloduy nuclear plant under its ascension deal, hence the EU’s reluctance to backtrack on this issue. (THE HEREN REPORTS - EDEM 10219 / 10 November 2006) |
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