Expert: Realization of the Belene NPP is an option for Bulgaria not to import expensive electricity after 2025

If the equipment at the "Belene" NPP is sold, a project for a second nuclear power plant may not be earlier than 20-25 years in Bulgaria. This was explained to BTA by Eng. Iliya Rainov from the Bulgarian private company "Group International" at a press conference today in Sofia. The company mainly works in the field of design and full engineering of industrial facilities, including environmental equipment, innovation and introduction of cutting-edge technologies to reduce harmful emissions into the air, as well as to purify land and water from pollutants. We remind you that the decision of the parliament is for conducting negotiations for the sale of the equipment for Belene, not for its sale.

According to Rainov, after 2025 our country will become a net importer of electricity, because Bulgaria will not be able to cover its internal needs with what will be produced by the Kozloduy NPP and the generating capacities that will remain after they stop to operate the majority of coal plants. "This condemns Bulgaria to very expensive electricity", said engineer Raynov. According to him, the only way to prevent this is to implement the Belene NPP project.

Engineer Raynov recalled that in 2019, Group International, together with Czech companies in the "Belene NPP 2019" DZZD consortium, participated in a tender to secure a project for the construction of the nuclear power plant. He pointed out that they were the only European consortium participating in the announced tender for the implementation of the project, offering pure financing under the terms of the tender. Although they proposed that the construction of the Belene NPP be carried out on a market basis (without signing contracts for the mandatory purchase of energy from the state, without preferential prices for purchasing electricity, without providing corporate or other state guarantees), the National Electric Company and the Department of Energy then refused any negotiations.

According to the representatives of "Group International", failure to implement the project for the construction of the "Belene" NPP "dooms us to return to Bulgaria at the beginning of the 20th century."

Energy expert Georgi Kaschiev commented to the agency that there should be no rush to sell the equipment from the "Belene" NPP, because some of the steam generators could work on the currently operating 5th and 6th power units. "Given the future of the Kozloduy NPP, when most likely some of the steam generators will need to be replaced, I appeal to first conduct a survey at the Kozloduy NPP, to get their opinion - do they think that a replacement will be necessary of the pargonerators," Kaschiev added. According to him, if it is necessary to replace the steam generators, they cannot be obtained from anywhere, and they are currently available with us. Kaschiev specified that there are currently eight steam generators at the site in Belene. He is of the opinion that the possibility of half of them being reserved for the needs of the Kozloduy NPP, while the other four steam generators will not be a problem if they are sold, should be discussed. "But I don't see the sale itself as easily feasible," Georgi Kaschiev pointed out.

Energy expert Mladen Mitev commented for BTA that there is already a decision of the National Assembly on the sale of the equipment from the Belene NPP. According to him, this decision does not affect the future of nuclear energy in Bulgaria, because even if the equipment is sold, the Belene NPP project may still have a future. Another reactor can be put on this site, he noted, giving an example that the French company EDF was considering an option to operate their reactor. According to him, there should not be any significant change in the project.