Bogomil Manchev: Bulgaria needs an energy strategy
The state must be the full owner of the Belene NPP and can start building it as early as next year
Belene NPP stands on logs as a project, and we pay BGN 10 million for the conservation of the equipment on the site. This was stated to BNT by the chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum "Bulatom" Bogomil Manchev. In energy, because it is very large as a system, a lot of mistakes can accumulate, which when they start to happen, it will take time to eliminate them. This is happening now, according to the nuclear expert.
According to him, our country currently needs an energy strategy to know what needs to happen in the sector. He reiterated his view on how the state should take decisive action, that it wants to become a 100% owner of the Belene NPP project and start building it. "This is the only way to start building next year," Manchev said. According to him, at the moment we have reached a situation where we have to make both the seventh and eighth units of Kozloduy NPP. "But in the eighth block we have not started exploring the site. The state must make a clear decision - we are starting to build the Belene NPP. We immediately start licensing the site of the eighth block and are looking for a technological supplier for the seventh and eighth blocks ", added Manchev. According to him, there is no technical or financial problem for us to build the nuclear power plant and our economy to work, he was categorical. Of course, there is a procedure to give a majority stake to a strategic investor for the second nuclear power plant. But he said the state should decide on Belene.
According to him, moving an editor to Unit 7 and then thinking about the construction of Unit 8 of Kozloduy NPP is a very complicated job. There is no site there, and it will take us years to get a license… If we build two new units of Kozloduy NPP, it will cost us BGN 15-16 billion. And for the Belene NPP we will spend only BGN 10 billion. But he does not see the political will to protect the Bulgarian national interest.
The expert predicts an energy collapse if the coal plants close. The green deal accelerated the rise in electricity prices. But the parameters of the Green Deal cannot be renegotiated, it should have been done years before.
Energy is managed in more than one term. There must be continuity and follow the main backbone on which the economy works, so that we can move forward and the state takes its responsibility, Manchev was also categorical.