SOFIA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - East European countries have jumped on the global nuclear renaissance bandwagon, but numerous hurdles facing atomic power mean projects could be delayed and some even abandoned, analysts say.
Slovakia, Romania and Hungary plan to build new reactors or extend the life of existing ones, driven by growing energy needs at home and European Union (EU) targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Residents of the town of Novi Han, 12km southeast of Sofia, voted in favour of shutting down the nuclear waste facility near the town, in a referendum on February 18 2008.
The turnout for the referendum was 66.2 per cent, passing the 51 per cent threshold for it to be considered valid, with 99 per cent of the 1221 town's residents who went to polling stations voting in favour of shutting down the facility, Focus news agency reported.
7 February 2008 | 10:22 | FOCUS News Agency
Skopje. Macedonia should participate in the construction of the new Belene NPP, as Bulgaria proposed last year to Macedonia to join the energy giant, the Macedonian Spic newspaper writes.
Macedonian experts think in this way the country will find a long-term solution of the electricity shortage problem.
By Joshua Boak, Tribune staff reporter, January 6, 2008
Firms jostle to be 1st in line for scarce reactor components - The latest nuclear race involves something other than warheads.
American utilities are moving forward on the next generation of nuclear reactors -- even before they receive government approval to build them.
They know only one company in the world that forges specialized steel containers for a reactor's core. Japan Steel Works already has a three-year backlog, and buyers include Chicago-based Exelon Corp.
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.
SOFIA, Bulgaria: Plagued by electricity shortages, Bulgaria on Wednesday announced it was considering plans to reopen nuclear reactors it had to shut down before joining the European Union a year ago.
The two Russian-made units at Bulgaria's only nuclear plant, Kozlodui, were switched off just hours before the Balkan country joined the European Union on Jan. 1, 2007.
The electricity that NPP Belene will generate when finished will cost at least 4.5 euro-cents per kilowatt-hour, which is by one euro-cent more than the price initially announced by Atomstroyexport. The consumers' price of the electricity from NPP Belene is still uncalculated
Thu Dec 20, 2007 8:04am EST
SOFIA, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's state power utility NEK said on Thursday it had asked strategic investors to file improved offers to acquire a 49-percent stake in a planned new nuclear power plant by Jan. 9.
NEK executive director Lyubomir Velkov told reporters all five short-listed bidders had been invited to sweeten their bids for the 2,000 megawatt, 4.0 billion euro ($5.75 billion) power plant at the Danube river town of Belene.
MOSCOW (Thomson Financial) - Russia and China will inaugurate an atomic power station in Jiangsu province on December 20, as Moscow steps up construction of such stations worldwide, a top Russian official has said.
The head of Russian atomic power station contractor Atomstroiexport, Sergei Shmatko, told journalists Russia was shaking off the stigma attached to its nuclear industry after the Soviet-era Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 and was in talks with European and Asian countries.
(Text of report in English by Bulgarian national news agency BTA website) Ihtiman, 14 December: At the moment the fuel of Units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy nuclear power plant is being replaced by a better one, Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA) President Sergei [Sergey] Tsochev told reporters in Ihtiman. The licences for the operation of Units 5 and 6 expire in 2009 and the NRA expects to be submitted a report by the N-plant on their safety in 2008. The upgrading of the units will be completed within the validity of the licences, Tsochev said. An invitation has been extended to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and by the end of 2008 it will inspect the observance of the respective technical requirements at the Bulgarian N-plant.
