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It is not supposedly but asssuredly signed by 600 000 people. It can be checked here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Bulgarian_nuclear_power_referendum |
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{{Short description|Abandoned nuclear power plant in northern Bulgaria}}
{{Infobox power station
|name = Belene Nuclear Power Plant
|image =
|image_caption =
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|country = [[Bulgaria]]▼
|owner = [[NEK EAD|Bulgarian National Electricity Company]]▼
▲| coordinates = {{coord|43|37|46|N|25|11|12|E|region:BG_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
▲|owner = [[NEK EAD|Bulgarian National Electricity Company]]
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|ps_units_planned = 2 x 1,000 MW
▲| ps_units_decommissioned=
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▲|website =
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The '''Belene Nuclear Power Plant''' ({{lang-bg|Атомна електроцентрала „Белене“}}) is
On June 11, 2010, the Bulgarian government announced
==History==
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The discussions on constructing a second nuclear power plant started in the early 1970s. The Belene site was approved for the construction of a second Bulgarian NPP by a [[Council of Ministers of Bulgaria|Council of Ministers]] decree on 20 March 1981. The site was handed to the Ministry of Economics on 31 December 1981 and the documentation for the construction site's preparation was prepared in late 1980 and early 1981 by Energoproekt [[Sofia]]. The site's preparation in accordance with the draft projects began in the early 1981.
The foundations of the future power plant were laid in 1987 after the design of Atomenergoproekt [[
The majority of the heavy equipment supplied for Belene's Unit 1 in the late 1980s, including the reactor vessel, was bought back by [[Atomstroyexport]] in 2007 and installed at Unit 4 of the [[Kalinin Nuclear Power Plant]], which was connected to the grid on 24 November 2011.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Fuel_loading_underway_at_Kalinin_4-2110114.html|title=Fuel loading underway at Kalinin 4|access-date=5 January 2021|date=21 October 2011|language=en|website=world-nuclear-news.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://bntnews.bg/bg/a/51563-reaktoryt_za_belene_shte_proizvejda_tok_za_rusija|title=Реакторът за "Белене" ще произвежда ток за Русия|access-date=5 January 2021|date=22 April 2011|language=bg|website=bntnews.bg}}</ref>
===Restart===
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On 18 January 2008, Atomstroyexport and Bulgaria's [[NEK EAD|National Electric Company (NEC)]] signed the contract for the design, construction and installation of units 1 and 2 of the Belene NPP.<ref name=sofia>{{Cite news|url=http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/belene-contract-signed-between-bulgarias-nec-and-russias-atomstroyexport/id_27138/catid_66 |title=Belene contract signed between Bulgaria's NEC and Russia's Atomstroyexport | author=Rene Beekman| publisher=The Sofia Echo |date=2008-01-18 |accessdate=2008-01-26}}</ref><ref name=sofia2>{{Cite news| url=http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/bulgaria-and-russia-sign-belene-npp-south-stream-and-bourgas-alexandroupolis/id_27134/catid_66 | title=Bulgaria and Russia sign Belene NPP, South Stream and Bourgas Alexandroupolis | author=Elitsa Savova | publisher=The Sofia Echo | date=2008-01-18 | accessdate=2008-01-31}}</ref> On 3 September 2008, the construction of the Belene NPP officially started. According to the Minister of Energy Petar Dimitrov, the Belene plant would operate "the most secure reactors existing in the world"; he also asserted that "the chance there would be a failure in those reactors is practically zero". Prime Minister Stanishev and Minister Dimitrov also called the project "a Renaissance for Bulgaria's nuclear energy" and "the largest industrial project in Bulgaria in the last eighteen years". More than 10,000 construction workers would be employed in the project, with the first reactor expected to be operating by the end of 2013, the second by the end of 2014.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Тръгна строежът на АЕЦ "Белене" |language=Bulgarian |publisher=News.bg |date=2008-09-03 |accessdate=2008-09-03 |last=Конова |first=Мариана |url=http://news.ibox.bg/news/id_875422405 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://sofiaecho.com/2008/09/05/663338_belene-powers-on |title=Belene powers on |date=2008-09-05 |accessdate=2009-06-02 |publisher=The Sofia Echo }}</ref>
According to the schedule, Unit 1 of the A92 design has to be erected for 6.5 years and Unit 2 for 7.5 years with consideration of the specific licensing terms as per the Bulgarian legislation. The longest time
=== Termination of the project ===
The negotiations stalled again after the [[GERB]] government decided to add an American or a European contractor to the project, as well as insisting for Atomstroyexport to lower the price to less than five billion euro. As no major European or American investor appeared, the talks continued to yield no results. This led to the official termination of the Belene project in March 2012. A thermal
In June 2016, the [[International Court of Arbitration]] awarded [[Atomstroyexport]] €620 million in compensation for equipment already manufactured for the plant, which will be delivered to Bulgaria following payment.<ref name=nei-20161103>{{cite news |url=http://www.neimagazine.com/news/newsbulgaria-weighs-merits-of-belene-npp-or-kozloduy-extension-5658006 |title=Bulgaria weighs merits of Belene NPP or Kozloduy extension |publisher=Nuclear Engineering International |date=3 November 2016 |accessdate=5 November 2016}}</ref>
=== Possible project restart ===
In 2016 discussions took place with [[Rosatom]], the manufacturer of the reactors, about the possibility of installing one
On 7 June 2018, the Bulgarian Parliament voted to abolish the moratorium on the construction of the power plant. The aim of the government is to complete the project through funding by a strategic investor, what interest has so far been declared by several companies. Minister of Energy should develop an investor selection procedure and propose options for structuring the project by 31 October 2018. According to the Minister, the plant can be completed within
▲In 2016 discussions took place with [[Rosatom]] about the possibility of installing one of the reactors at [[Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant]] and selling the second one to a third party. An alternative is a privately financed completion of Belene.
In December 2019, the Bulgarian energy ministry said it had selected five companies among the 13 applications received to participate in the project. [[China National Nuclear Corporation]] (CNNC), [[Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power]] (KHNP) and [[Rosatom]] as potential strategic investors. [[Framatome]] and [[General Electric]] (GE) have also been selected; Framatome expressed interest in providing safety systems, GE offered design and supply equipment, turbines, compressors and transformers.<ref name="reuters.com"/>
▲On 7 June 2018, the Bulgarian Parliament voted to abolish the moratorium on the construction of the power plant. The aim of the government is to complete the project through funding by a strategic investor, what interest has so far been declared by several companies. Minister of Energy should develop an investor selection procedure and propose options for structuring the project by 31 October 2018. According to the Minister, the plant can be completed within 7-8 years.<ref>https://www.novinite.com/articles/190544/The+Bulgarian+Parliament%27s+Decision%3A+Restart+of+the+Belene+NPP+Project</ref>
==Technical Features==
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A specific feature of the third generation reactor presented in the AES 92 variant is the provision of a "core catcher" for severe accident cases. This insures against a containment integrity violation and release of highly radioactive substances into the environment.
Improved safety in the AES 92 design accounts for projected improvements in radiation protection parameters during its operation. The calculated individual effective dose of personnel exposure for this design is 1 mSv/a, which is commensurate with the permissible annual effective dose limit for a person in the general population and in compliance with the Bulgarian normative base and European directives. As to the design dose rate per person of the greater population due to radioactive releases by the NPP: this value for the AES 92 variant is lower than 0.05 mSv/a, which represents less than 1/3 of the permissible dose rate as per article 10 of
Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) management and the Radioactive Waste (RAW) handling is an important aspect of the environmental impact assessment for the new plant. The fuel envisaged to be used for AES 92 allows for up to 50 years storage of spent fuel assemblies in a storage pool and then an additional 10 years of “dry” storage keeping. The general plan provides for SNF transportation to Russia for reprocessing.
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There is controversy over the [[Environmental Impact Assessment]] (EIA), which "does not contain adequate information on the seismic conditions, nor does it address [[BDBE|beyond design basis]] accidents or give details of the potential impacts of decommissioning".<ref name=mycle>[http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dokbin/206/206749.pdf The World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2007] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080625044818/http://www.greens-efa.org/cms/topics/dokbin/206/206749.pdf |date=June 25, 2008 }} pp. 31-32.</ref> Furthermore, following legal action by environmental groups, the authors of the original EIA confirmed, in court, that it was flawed and would require a new EIA once a designer and builder were appointed. The total cost of the project is now estimated by the operator to be around €7 billion (€4 billion for the power stations plus associated infrastructure development costs).<ref name=mycle/>
Environmental organizations [[Greenpeace]], [[Friends of the Earth]] (Europe), [[Urgewald]], [[Bankwatch]], [[World Information Service on Energy]] and the Bulgarian NGO [[BeleNE!]] oppose the plant's construction, and have expressed the following concerns:<ref>[http://www.bankwatch.org/project.shtml?apc=---g--1&x=2062712 Environmental Organizations condemn European Commission Decision on Bulgarian Reactor] {{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00229.html |title=Press release of Greenpeace about the Belene project |accessdate=2006-10-31 |language=Romanian }}</ref>
* negative effect on the tourist industry and the agriculture of northern Bulgaria
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* complete unnecessity of further nuclear power in the first place, as better options are available.
Concerns regarding the construction of the plant have mainly been felt in nearby [[Romania]], with articles in the newspapers such as ''[[Cotidianul]]'', ''[[România Liberă]]'' and ''[[Ziarul]]'' even going as far as comparing the project with [[Chernobyl disaster|Chernobyl]] despite a new generation of VVER reactors is to be used, and not the cheaper [[graphite]]-[[Neutron moderator|moderated]] [[RBMK]] series like Chernobyl's.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Атака срещу "Белене" |url=http://www.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?d=2006-10-18&article=164641 |date=2006-10-18 |accessdate=2006-10-31 |publisher=Standart News |language=Bulgarian |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930224222/http://www.standartnews.com/bg/article.php?d=2006-10-18&article=164641 |archive-date=2007-09-30 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Critics say the project is economically flawed, open to corruption and mismanagement, and will cement Russian dominance of Bulgaria's energy sector.<ref>[http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/30/business/renbulg.php Nuclear ambitions fan controversy in Bulgaria]</ref>
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060824015545/http://www.nek.bg/cgi-bin/index.cgi?l=1&d=370 Photo gallery of the Belene NPP at the National Electric Company website]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060830132109/http://bluelink.net/belene/ Campaign against the plant's construction]
* [http://ime-bg.org/pr_bg/267-3.htm Article about the project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060622230756/http://ime-bg.org/pr_bg/267-3.htm
{{Power stations in Bulgaria}}
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