(490.4868) WISE Amsterdam - The Bulgarian government agreed in 1993 to shut down the first
two units of the Kozloduy reactors by the end of 1998 and unit 3 & 4 by 2000. They received
from the EBRD US$26-million financial assistance for upgrading activities under those conditions.
Now, as more than US$100- million has been spent (including the EU-financial help) the Bulgarian
government plans to operate the first two reactors until 2005 and the other two until 2010.
Although a EU commission spokeswoman said failure to close the reactors by 2000 could hinder
Bulgaria's chances of joining the EU the EBRD now seems to support the Bulgarian's. According to
Charles Frank, Chairman of the EBRD, "the deadline for closure of the old reactors can be extended;
a new date will be discussed later in April".
Meanwhile the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has sent an Operational Safety
Assessment Review Team (OSART) to the site for a new look at the first four units. It was the
IAEA's catastrophic 1991 report on the Kozloduy stations that set in motion the effort by western
governments to get these, and simular reactors in former Soviet Bloc, closed.
While the EU is still paying lipservice to this effort, the EBRD is much more frank; the reactors
are allowed to stay open, they will most probably even support the upgrading needed to get
international support to keep the reactors open for 10 more years...
Sources:
- Nucleonics Week, 19 March 1998
- Emails Bankwatch mailing list, 3 and 16 April 1998
Tel: +359-2-658 216
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