2023-10-25 17:54:00
After Poland, Bulgaria. This Wednesday, the Bulgarian government approved the construction of the first two American nuclear reactors of the AP1000 type, a technology developed by the American group Westinghouse.
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These two reactors, with a combined power of 2,300 megawatts (MW), will be built on the Kozlodoui nuclear site (north), “ the first by 2033, the second two or three years later », Specified Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov. The government granted a tranche of 500 million leva (250 million euros) on Wednesday to start the project.
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The plant currently has two Russian units, numbers 5 and 6, of the VVER type with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts each. They have a license until 2027 and 2029, renewable, and provide more than a third of the country’s energy. The four oldest reactors were closed before Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007 for safety reasons.
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Reduce its energy dependence on Russia
These new reactors aim to replace coal-fired power plants which must close by 2038, according to the commitments made by Sofia under pressure from Brussels to disengage from this polluting industry. But this project aims above all to reduce Bulgaria’s almost total dependence on Russia in terms of energy. In response to the deterioration of relations between the Twenty-Seven and Moscow, Bulgaria has accelerated its resource diversification strategy in recent months. With this in mind, at the end of 2022, Bulgaria had already signed a ten-year contract with Westinghouse to supply fuel to its Kozloduy nuclear power plant and replace Russia which until then supplied the plant’s two VVER reactors.
Sofia also implemented an exceptional tax in mid-October on Russian gas passing through its territory to reach Hungary and Serbia, to the great dismay of these two countries. This measure aims to “ reduce profits » from the Russian giant Gazprom, « and therefore the money entering the Kremlin coffers to finance the war in Ukraine ”, according to the government. Bulgaria no longer imports Russian gas for its own consumption but remains a hub for its delivery via the Turkstream gas pipeline. This infrastructure was extended at the beginning of 2021 on its territory, in order to supply Russian gas to Central Europe by bypassing Ukraine.
Westinghouse wins in Poland
Before Sofia, it was Warsaw which announced last November that it was joining forces with Westinghouse to support it in its very first nuclear program, preferring the American to EDF and the Korean Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power. A total of six AP1000s, Westinghouse’s third generation reactor, will be built in this country which is currently firing 88% of its energy comes from fossil fuels, including 40% from coal.
A first power plant, construction of which is due to begin in 2026 to be put into service in the north of the country within ten years, and is expected to cost 100 billion zlotys (21.7 billion euros). Poland currently plans to eventually host three nuclear sites of three reactors each, with a maximum overall power of 15 GW, which would represent around 30% of the country’s energy mix. Here again, these projects aim to reduce the European country’s energy dependence on its Russian neighbor.
« We cannot risk the stability of the energy system, the stability of our entire economy, by relying on unstable energy sources. The only clean, stable energy source verified to be safe is nuclear energy. », declared Mateusz Morawiecki at the time.
(With AFP)
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