Good Prospects
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#194October 2017

Good Prospects

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This was announced by Vadim Titov, Head of Rosatom Central Europe, speaking at the conference on Bulgarian nuclear energy, the Bulgarian National Radio reports. Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and a representative of Rosatom are said to have had a meeting in October. As the representative of the Russian company said, Rosatom and Bulgaria made a series of agreements related to the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. Some of them pertain to nuclear fuel supplies and service life extension at Units 5 and 6 of the country’s only operating nuclear plant. Taking into account long-standing cooperation in the nuclear industry, the Russian nuclear corporation is also prepared to take part in the Belene project, Titov said. He also noted during the conference that nuclear power had good prospects in the future. Development of green energy and renewable energy sources without nuclear energy does not mean higher efficiency, but extra costs for consumers, he noted.

Titov believes though that renewable sources should not be totally excluded from the energy mix. “The share of renewable – wind and solar – power sources should not exceed 40% otherwise the power supply in the country turns unreliable,” he explained.

Earlier in October, Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova said that the country would like to continue its cooperation with Moscow on the Belene construction project. At present, Bulgaria examines all available opportunities of using the machines and equipment manufactured for the mothballed project and does not exclude acquiring Rosatom as a project investor, Petkova said. She added that no talks had been held to discuss these opportunities, and Bulgaria would continue its consultations with Moscow until the year end. Later Petar Iliev, Executive Director of NEK EAD (National Electric Company of Bulgaria), told the media that the company was holding talks with Rosatom on the possibility of storing the reactor vessels (manufactured by AtomStroyExport) on the Belene site under the manufacturer’s control. Until now, the future of Belene remains undefined.