Hungary said Monday that the EU's nuclear body Euratom has signed a fuel supply agreement, clearing the way for Russia to build the extension of the country's sole nuclear plant.
Under the deal -- agreed with Euratom at the end of March -- Russia will be able to supply fuel for two new reactors at the Paks plant in central Hungary over a 10-year period.
An official of Russian state nuclear firm Rosatom told a Brussels audience that his company could guarantee a levelized price for electricity of $50/MWh from new nuclear plants it builds, if the client chooses the firm's services for their lifecycle. According to EU policies, however, fuel supply should be diversified.
Speaking at an event organised by New Nuclear Watch Europe, Kirill Komarov, First Deputy CEO of Rosatom, said that his company was the only one able to guarantee a low price for electricity, if European countries chose the full package of its services.
Average annual funding for nuclear research is expected to grow almost 15% under the European Union's (EU's) planned Horizon 2020 program. Fusion programs account for nine-tenths of the budget.
Horizon 2020 is the financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 with an €80 billion ($104 billion) budget, the EU's new program for research and innovation is part of the drive to create new growth and jobs in Europe.
The European Union and India are to co-operate more closely on civil nuclear research and development as a way of strengthening a partnership that has often been seen as falling short of its potential.
Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, and Manmohan Singh, India’s prime minister, announced the agreement on Monday at an EU-India summit that also produced promises of closer co-ordination of climate change and energy security policies.
London (Platts)--21Jan2008
Russia is offering to loan Bulgaria 3.8 billion Euros (US$5.5 billion) for construction of two 1,000-MW-class reactors at Belene, a spokeswoman for Atomstroyexport, or ASE, said January 18.
(Novinite) Bulgaria will be able to start construction works on the planned Belene nuclear power plant no sooner than 2009, the head of the country's nuclear regulator said on Monday.
The regulator is yet to rule on the technical details of the project and the proposed safety measures, said Sergey Tsochev, who chairs Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulation Agency.
18:05 Mon 10 Dec 2007 - Rene Beekman
Environmental organisations Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth Europe, Urgewald, Bankwatch, WISE and the Bulgarian NGO coalition BeleNE! condemned on December 10 the European Commission´s (EC) favourable opinion on the Belene nuclear power project (NPP) in Bulgaria, a media statement by the organisations said.
Fri Dec 7, 2007 2:13pm GMT
BRUSSELS, Dec 7 (Reuters) - The European Commission gave a green light o the construction of a new, 4-billion-euro ($5.82 billion) nuclear power plant in Bulgaria with capacity of 2,000 megawatts, it said on Friday.
"The Commission has decided today to give a favourable opinion to the initiative of Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania (NETC) of Bulgaria to build a new nuclear power plant at the site of Belene," the EU executive said in a statement.
SOFIA: As governments around the world struggle to secure energy supplies, cut carbon emissions and adapt to rising oil prices, Bulgaria has adopted an ambitious solution: Construct a new nuclear power plant, the country’s second, near the northern town of Belene, across the Danube from Romania.
18 October 2007, Thursday
PM Stanishev (left) and Finance Minister Oresharski (right) have both backed the project to the hilt so far, and Bulgaria's low foreign debt allows the cabinet to underwrite the loans.
Bulgaria's cabinet decided on Monday to double the amount of debt it is willing to guarantee for the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant at Belene.
