Prof. Yanko Yanev: The statements about "goal" or "puddle" in relation to Belene NPP are chasing all foreign investors

Georgi Velev

Prof. Yanev, we are witnessing daily "innovations" and even strange ideas in the energy sector. What do you think of the idea of ​​Prime Minister Kiril Petkov to build a new nuclear unit at Kozloduy NPP and abandon everything that has been done under the Belene project so far?

As unpleasant as it may be, I will have to say that this is now becoming not only an unprepared statement, but it also carries an element of potential crime. This cannot happen this way. What will be this bloc and this American technology that is approved Europe? The Americans do not have a nuclear unit built somewhere in Europe and approved by the regulatory authorities of the member states. The 1000 megawatt AR 1000 unit, which has been under construction for I don't know how many years in Georgia and has not yet been completed and which has cost $ 14 billion so far, is unlikely to be adopted soon if at all. France is proposing the new EPR-2 and plans to build at least 14 units. We are still in Europe and in the European Union, and that means something for those who understand. Not to mention the construction of small modular reactors. These are really tales of 1001 nights for naive people. Such small reactors can be talked about after 2035-2036 at the earliest.

 

It is good for the government to read what the International Atomic Energy Agency writes on the subject - such blocks can be expected at the earliest after 2030, but in reality after 2035. First we need to create the regulatory framework for these reactors, build a demonstration unit and only after its testing to talk about mass application.

So the current announced intention is just dust in people's eyes?

I am not aware of the intentions, I follow the news. We have already seen him on an energy visit to the United States, Stanishev and former Energy Minister Dragomir Stoynev also went, and then he saw the AP 1000 block, which has not been built yet. They showed him the simulator and we sighed and sighed how nice he was. I also went and saw him, but I have some reservations.

The Americans are a great nuclear nation worthy of respect, but they have no nuclear power to offer seriously. If they plan to build the AP1000 on the Kozloduy site, it should be clear to everyone that the only two such nuclear units built are in China, but they are not yet licensed to operate in Europe. Not to mention that Chinese will have to be brought to our country to build such a facility. And the Chinese have a problem right now coming to build in the EU, not to mention being identified as the main enemy of the United States.

So, at the moment, the idea is probably to take the Russian equipment from the Belene NPP and move it to the Kozloduy NPP site. If they want to do this, it is in principle possible to happen. Another question is how much it will cost, because Belene is a ready nuclear site, and Kozloduy has yet to create one. And here is the place to say that the Belene site is neither a "goal" nor a "puddle". When prime ministers speak in this way, they should know that they are committing a crime with a national asset worth almost BGN 3 billion, destroying its real value. As far as I know, no one has yet canceled the tender for a foreign investor for the construction of the Belene NPP. Such statements really drive all foreign investors interested. This will cause a real loss of BGN 3 billion and someone must be responsible for that.

I am almost certain that the Bulgarian delegation in the United States is there to bargain for the construction of energy storage systems. With such batteries, however, one wonders who will charge these batteries. Someone has to calculate, for example, a 6-gigawatt battery that is talked about, how much it will cost, how it will be powered, and whether this current from this battery will eventually turn out to be golden.

So it turns out that it is better to build the hydro facility "Yadenitsa" so that PAVEC "Chaira" can work for 38 hours, not just 18 hours, as it is now.

Incompetence is starting to scare.

Doesn't this move return our nuclear energy to its original position and make us wonder, as we did ten years ago, whether to build Belene or not?

Nuclear energy remains in this state, as it is, outstretched, attacked by ignorant and incompetent politicians and without a clear future. We have a ready site, licensed and tidy. The ballast cushion for the new block is also ready on this site. You have to be deeply unfamiliar to commit such abuses with an object built with our money. I don't know who or how he took a course at Harvard, but I'm sure they know the value of national assets there and how they are stored and sold.

For speeches of this type, however, it is worth to see if a civil lawsuit can be filed against the prime minister for destroying the country's assets. At the moment, however, there is an auction for candidate investors, no one has stopped this auction. And while this auction is going on, the prime minister of the state calls the site for which the investment is sought - a "puddle". It is not serious and such moves should not ruin the state, step by step.