BELGRADE -- The largest nuclear waste disposal site in Europe will be located in Serbia - in Vinča, near Belgrade, it has been announced.
A public company in charge of its construction at the same time reassured that the facility was built "according to EU standards".
The site is now awaiting a permanent permission to operate.
Russian nuclear power engineering company Atomstroyexport has advised its owner, state power corporation Rosatom, to drop Bulgaria's Belene nuclear power project, French daily La Tribune reported, citing a letter that Atomstroyexport sent to its parent.
Rosatom told Dnevnik it would not comment on the letter as it was an internal document and the company was yet to decide whether to exit the project. The proposed withdrawal would be considered a possibility only if Rosatom failed to sign its 12th consecutive agreement with Bulgaria, the company said.
Serbia has officially stated its interest in becoming one of the investors in Bulgaria's project to build a second Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in the Danube town of Belene.
The official letter was sent to Bulgaria's Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, from his Serbian counterpart, Mirko Cvetcovic.
Bulgarian Parliament Chair Tsacheva has made promising hints about the fate of the Belene nuclear power plant. Photo by BGNES
Bulgarian will for sure build its second nuclear power plant at Belene, Parliament Chair Tsetska Tsacheva has declared.
Serbia is ready to consider participation in building of another Bulgarian NPP "Belene", but still awaits concrete offer, in writing, to be able to take concrete decision, announced today Serbian Ministry for Energy Petar Škundrić in interview for Bulgarian National Radio.
"Consent is given but we still didn't negotiated level of involvement in that project. I am expecting in near future offer of Bulgarian Government to enable us to take a decision" explained Mr Škundrić.
Chinese development Bank interested to finance Serbian participation in building NPP in Belene and in some other energy projects, announced today representatives of that Bank.
“We spoke about that project in Bulgaria, we are interested and there is obvious advance in that direction”, vice governor of CDBank Gao Jian told to media after talks with Serbian minister for Energy and Mining Mr Petar Skundric.
BELGRADE -- Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin has confirmed that Russia offered to build a nuclear power plant in Serbia.
But the idea, he said during his visit to Zrenjanin in the north of the country, came from the Serbian side.
VIENNA -- The U.S. has backed Serbian efforts to transfer the remaining nuclear waste at the Vinča Institute out of the country by 2010.
The U.S. delegation supported the project at the International Atomic Energy Association’s (IAEA) General Conference in Vienna, said Deputy Science and Technology Minister Miroslav Vesković.
The Vinca Institute of Nuclear Sciences, located 9 miles from Belgrade, is Yugoslavia's oldest nuclear research institute. Established in 1948 as the Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, its efforts supposedly included an attempt to build a Yugoslav nuclear bomb. For almost 45 years, it collected Yugoslavia's and Serbia's radioactive waste.
Since the end of the cold war, the United Nations has logged more than 800 incidents in which radioactive material has gone missing, often from poorly guarded sites. Who is taking it - and should we be worried? Julian Borger investigates.
