July 9 (SeeNews) - As much as 59% of Bulgarians will support the potential revival of the project for construction of Belene nuclear power plant - only in case it proves to be economically viable, the results of a new survey show.
About one-third of respondents (30%) believe the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria should be resumed with no strings attached, while 11% say the Belene NPP must not be built at all, according to the results of the survey conducted by Sofia-based polling agency Alpha Research.
The poll was carried out among 1,017 respondents across Bulgaria during June 17 - 25.
Some 69% of the participants say they are worried about risks related to the implementation of the project. Inside that group, 46% are worried about environmental and safety risks, next come economic and financial risks (29%), geopolitical risks (23%) and domestic political risks (20%).
Around 30% say they are not worried about any risks related to the project.
In May, Traicho Traikov, former Bulgarian minister of economy and energy, told SeeNews that the Belene nuclear project is economically unfeasible and will hinder the introduction of new technologies in the country’s energy sector. Another cause of concern, according to Traikov, is the fact that a study by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in 1990 concluded that Belene is located in an area with an increased risk of seismic activity.
On June 27, Bulgaria's government mandated the energy minister to seek options for the construction of Belene NPP with the participation of a strategic investor. The nuclear plant must be built on a market basis and without Bulgarian state guarantees, the government added.
Earlier in June, the energy ministry said it has received an official letter from French energy group Areva, in which the company says it is interested in participating in the project. China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) and Russia's Rosatom have also expressed interest in participating.
In December 2016, following international arbitration, Bulgaria paid 601.6 million euro ($708.8 million) in compensation to Atomstroyexport for the equipment already manufactured by the Russian company for the project. The equipment is now stored at the site designated for the construction of the power plant back in the 1980s.
In 2008, the then Socialist-led government the construction of the plant in Belene, on the Danube river, after a long pause and hired Atomstroyexport to build two reactors for the plant. After the project made scant headway, Bulgaria finally abandoned it with a parliament decision in February 2013, citing huge construction costs and unclear prospects for the sale of the electricity that will be produced by the plant.
Bulgaria has a single Russian-built nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, on the Danube river, with installed capacity of 2,000 MW. Kozloduy is on track to complete works on the project for extending the lifespan of its 1,000-MW Unit 6 by the end of July, energy minister Temenuzhka Petkova said last week. Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency licensed Kozloduy's 1,000 Unit 5 for operation until 2027 last year, following successful completion of works on extending the unit's original lifespan which expired in 2017.
($=0.848 euro)