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From Bulgaria

28.01.2013 10:45

60% of Voters Support Nuclear Developments in Bulgaria, Referendum Shows

Despite the low electoral activity at the national referendum, plans for a new nuclear station at Belene will be returned for discussion at the parliament

AUTHOR: Gergana Mihailova

© bredmaker@sxc.hu

60.5 percent of Bulgarians who took part in yesterday’s national referendum voted in support of the development of nuclear energy. Some 6.9 million people had had the right to vote, out of which a mere 1.5 million voters went to the booths. According to the estimates of the Central Election Commission the activity was almost 22%.

Preliminary results reveal that 60.5% of the people (or more than 900 000) said "Yes" to future nuclear developments in Bulgaria.

570 000 answered with "No" to the question "Should nuclear energy in the Republic of Bulgaria be developped through building a new nuclear power plant?".

This is the first referendum in Bulgaria held after the democratic changes in the country, instigated by a petition signed by 700,000 citizens in favor of a nuclear referendum. The petition was endorsed by the Bulgarian Socialist Party which sought support for the Belene NPP project cancelled in May 2012 by PM Boyko Borisov’s center-right government. A second Bulgarian nuclear power plant at Belen has been planned since the 1980’s but never came to reality.

Last year the government officially scrapped the project for building a second nuclear plant, while financial rows with Russia’s Atomstroyexport over payments for a complete

VVER reactor waiting to be shipped to Bulgaria are still underway.

Belene, however, is not the only option for Bulgaria to develop nuclear energy. A project for a new 7th unit at Bulgaria’s currently operating Kozloduy NPP is underway. Unlike the construction of Belene which was meant to be managed on all levels, including finance, by the state-run National Electricity Company, the planned new capacity at Kozloduy will be taken care of by a special project company with separate budget - “NPP Kozloduy – New Build” EAD. The idea received the support of the government as a more feasible way to substitute the current reactors at Kozloduy which are to be phased out according to a safety agreement between Bulgaria and the European Commission.

Nevertheless, the activity at the referendum having surpassed the 20-percent barrier, the parliament will have to reconsider both construction plans at Belene and Kozloduy.