Bulgaria to Install U.S.-Built Reactor Amid Russia Tensions

Date: 13 October 2020 - 22:12

News ID: ۸۳۸۳۱

SOFIA (AFP) -- Bulgaria plans to add a new U.S.-built reactor to its Soviet-era nuclear power plant at Kozloduy on the Danube, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov said on Tuesday.
The Balkan country, which joined the EU in 2007, is almost totally dependent on Russia for its energy and has been long advised by both the EU and the U.S. to seek ways to diversify its energy sources and supply routes.
"This is the site where we want to build unit seven” of the plant, Borisov said during a visit broadcast on his official Facebook page. He added that it would be "a U.S. reactor, with U.S. nuclear fuel”.
He said that the energy ministry was considering building one bigger reactor and later adding several small modular reactors to it.
The government will adopt a decree approving the project at its weekly session on Wednesday, Borisov said, but added that this was a long-term endeavor, with the new reactor to be operational in 10-15 years.
The Kozloduy nuclear power plant, in the north, currently operates only two 1,000-megawatt units after four smaller ones had to be shut for safety reasons to secure the country’s EU accession in 2007.
The plant supplies one-third of the country’s electricity and the governm ent had been keen to extend the two reactors’ lifespan until 2027 and 2029, while also looking into options to build new nuclear capacity.
In 2012, Sofia scrapped a deal with Russia’s nuclear company Atomstroyexport to build a new 2,000-megawatt plant at Belene, also on the Danube.
The energy ministry revived the long-stalled project and sought binding offers earlier this year from several companies, including Russia’s Rosatom and China’s CNNC, who have expressed interest in becoming strategic investors in the project.
However, during a recent visit to Sofia, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Francis Fannon criticized Belene as outdated and serving Russia’s political interests.
Russia said on Monday it was expelling two Bulgarian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after two Russians were ordered out of the EU country on accusations of spying for the military.
The foreign ministry said in a statement that Bulgarian ambassador Atanas Krystin was summoned to be informed that the two Moscow-based diplomats had been declared "personae non grata”.
In September, Bulgaria said it had expelled the two Russians on accusations of spying on the military.