Bulgaria Going for 7th Kozloduy NPP Reactor, EconMin Says after Referendum

Bulgaria will "logically" go for building a seventh reactor at its existing NPP in Kozloduy, Bulgarian Economy Minister Delyan Dobrev commented Sunday on the results of the nation's referendum on the construction of a second nuclear plant.

Bulgaria's referendum, which had a voter turnout of only 22%, with 61% voting in favor of the construction of a second nuclear power plant in Bulgaria, while 39% voted against, implicitly referred to the project for the construction of the 2000-MW Belene NPP.

Even though the turnout is not sufficient to make the result of the referendum binding, it is still enough to take the question to the Bulgarian Parliament.

"Unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP will be 1000 MW, not 2000 MW. In Kozloduy, we have all the existing infrastructure, and it's economically logical to build a new reactor there. We will still enjoy a surplus of electricity but will have greater certainty with one more reactor in Kozloduy", Dobrev told reporters at the news conference of Bulgaria's ruling party GERB, whose leader, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov, terminated the project for the Belene NPP back in March 2012, terming it economically "unfeasible", and prompting the opposition Socialists to organize a referendum petition on nuclear energy.

"We have over 11 800 MW of electricity production capacity. Our largest consumption of electricity is 6 300 MW. Right now, half of the reactors at the TPPs in the Maritsa East Complex are turned off. We are exporting about 1 300 MW, and there is no more demand that we can use for electricity exports," the Economy Minister elaborated.

The voters who said "yes" in Bulgaria's nuclear referendum on Sunday in fact supported the construction of a seventh and eighth reactor at its existing NPP in Kozloduy, Valentin Nikolov, CEO of the Kozloduy NPP, commented shortly before Dobrev.

The construction of a seventh unit, of 1000 MW, at the Kozloduy NPP instead of building two 2000 MW units in Belene, and the extension of the lives of the two running Kozloduy reactors has been touted by Bulgaria's rulers GERB as a key solution for the nation's energy matters.