Failed referendum leaves Bulgaria without nuclear future

A referendum on nuclear energy in Bulgaria failed due to low turnout, and the country's ruling party has confirmed it will not build a new nuclear plant. Critics warn that without nuclear energy, Bulgaria may become a third-world country in 20 years.
The referendum, which was supposed to determine the future course of nuclear energy in Bulgaria, has been officially declared invalid: The final voter turnout was about 20 percent, far less than the required 60 percent.
Nearly 61 percent of voters who participated in Sunday’s referendum approved of building the nuclear plant.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov confirmed that his ruling center-right GERB party would not resume construction on a nuclear power plant in Belene.

In March 2012, the GERB party scrapped the 2,000-megawatt nuclear plant project, which had been under construction by Russia's Atomstroyexport since 2008. The Bulgarian government said that the country could no longer afford the plant’s 6.4-billion euro price tag.
During the negotiations that preceded the cancellation, GERB attempted to bring an American or European contractor on to the project. Bulgaria also demanded that the price be lowered to less than 5 billion euro, which Atomstroyexport refused to do. A breakdown in negotiations led to the termination of the project.
Following the failure of the project, the opposition Socialist party called for a referendum on the Belene plant. Though the government supported the referendum, Prime Minister Borisov urged Bulgarians to vote against the project.
“The question [of the referendum] was put pretty vaguely, no one explained to an average voter the particulars of nuclear energy,” Krasimira Ilieva of the Bulgarian Nuclear Society told RT.
Bulgarian Socialist MP Peter Kurumbashev said the plant would eventually have justified the expense. Kurumbashev told RT that the cost of the nuclear plant proposed by Atomstroyexport is good, when compared to the costs of similar nuclear plants proposed for construction in neighboring Turkey.
“It takes 12-14 years to pay back the money, whereas [the] life of this type of reactors is 60 years. So, in the next 44 years you’re just ‘printing’ money,” he said, adding that the referendum had become too politicized and unclear.
Kurumbashev said that negative campaign continued throughout the entirety of the referendum. The ruling party even said there was no need for referendum at all, “which is a very interesting statement on the part of [a] democracy,” he said.
The Socialist Party of Bulgaria announced plans to revive the project if they win the 2013 elections.
Bulgaria currently operates only one nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, about 200 kilometers from the capital Sofia, which went online in 1974. At its peak production, the plant’s six reactors delivered over 45 percent of Bulgaria’s electricity. The EU ordered four of the reactors to be shut down over safety concerns.

A general view shows the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant, some 200 km (124 miles) north of Sofia. (Reuters / Oleg Popov)

 

The Belene nuclear plant was intended to replace the four reactors of Kozloduy plant that were taken offline.
Kozloduy’s two operational 1,000-megawatt reactors, designed by the Soviet Union, were modernized in 2005 and 2006 to meet EU safety demands. They will be operable until 2027 and 2032 respectively, at which point Bulgaria will no longer generate nuclear energy.
Some analysts believe that losing atomic power could lead Bulgaria to disaster. “If Bulgaria keeps using only the two reactors that it already has, it will soon find itself out of power as their service time is running out,” Krasimira Ilieva warned.
Ilieva told RT that alternative sources of power have proven too expensive for Bulgaria, and that “We’ve lost out on the economic assets over the past years… Losing nuclear energy would turn us into a third-world state completely.”
So far, only one country in Europe, Lithuania, has given up nuclear energy following EU demands to shut down Soviet-built nuclear power plants. The Ignalinskaya nuclear power plant was shut down on December 31, 2009; Lithuana is still searching for an investor to construct a new one.
Lithuania also does not have the capability to safely dispose of the Ignalinskaya plant’s radioactive waste and thousands of tons of scrap metal, which is also partially radioactive. The country now imports up to 65 percent of its electricity, the Litovsky Courrier website reported.
.rt.com
31/01/13
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Related:

• Σόφια: Δεν θα πληρώσουμε αποζημίωση ενός δισ. για το Μπέλενε

Japan to start building world's biggest offshore wind farm this summer

Japan is to start building its ambitious wind farm project off the Fukushima coast in July. The farm is expected to become the world’s largest and produce 1GW of power once completed in 2020.
­The power-generating facility will be built 16 kilometers off the coast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which was critically damaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.
The 143 wind turbines, which are to be 200 meters in height, will be built on buoyant steel frames stabilized with ballast and anchored to the continental shelf.


Once completed in 2020, the project will generate 1 gigawatt of renewable electrical power. 
The project is part of Japan’s national plan to increase renewable energy resources following the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. After the quake, Japan shut down its 54 nuclear reactors, but due to energy shortages it has had to restart two reactors.
“This project is important. I think it is impossible to use nuclear power in Fukushima again,” project manager Takeshi Ishihara of the University of Tokyo told New Scientist weekly magazine.
Ishihara believes the area's seismic activity won't be a problem for the turbines. His team has carried out lots of computer simulations and water tank tests in order to verify the safety of the turbines in all possible extreme events, such as earthquakes, tsunamis and typhoons.
"All extreme conditions have been taken into consideration in the design," he added.
There were some objections to the project by local people, who expressed concerns, in particular, over possible impact on the fishing industry, which was also hit by the nuclear disaster. But Ishihara is sure it’s possible to turn the farm into a ‘marine pasture’ that would attract fish.

Facility specifications of forward project. (Image from Fukushima Floating Offshore Wind Farm Demonstration Project, Takeshi Ishihara The University of Tokyo)

 

The project is also part of the prefecture’s plan to become completely energy self-sufficient by 2040, using only renewable sources.  
The Fukushima wind farm will produce double the amount of energy of the Greater Gabbard array, currently the world’s biggest, off the coast of Suffolk in the United Kingdom, which generates 504 megawatts from its 140 turbines. Although the title of biggest will soon pass to the London Array in the Thames Estuary, where 175 turbines will produce 630 megawatts of power when it becomes operational later this year.
Scientists and researchers believe Japan’s wind capacity could reach 7.6 gigawatts over the next three years.
.rt.com
19/1/13
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Related post:

• Energy island must store electricity produced by wind farms

China resumes construction of biggest nuclear plant

BEIJING —

China has resumed construction on a “fourth generation” nuclear power plant, suspended after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, which will be its biggest-ever nuclear facility, state media said Saturday.
Construction on the coastal Shidao Bay nuclear plant in Rongcheng, a city in eastern China’s Shandong province, resumed last month, the state-run China Internet Information Center reported, adding that the plant is “China’s biggest planned nuclear project”.
The plant, which will be cooled by high temperature gas, will become “the world’s first successfully commercialised fourth generation nuclear technology demonstration project”, the report said.
It is designed to be safer and cuts down on costs, the report quoted a spokesman from the China Huaneng Group, the biggest investor in the plant, as saying.
The plant, expected to begin supplying electricity to the grid by 2017, will have a final generating capacity of 6,600 megawatts, the report said, adding initial investment in the project will be three billion yuan ($480 million).

The Shidao Bay plant “has been developed and designed solely by Chinese researchers”, the state-run China Radio International said, quoting a China Huaneng Group researcher as saying the company hopes to export the design.
China in October lifted a ban on new nuclear power stations imposed in 2011 after Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, when the facility was struck by a tsunami, and will allow construction of a “small number” of coastal nuclear power plants, according to an official report.
Construction on the Shidao Bay plant began in 2011 but was suspended in the wake of the Fukushima crisis, the China Internet Information Center said.
There are 15 operational commercial nuclear reactors in China, which has ambitious plans to expand its nuclear industry, with 27 reactors under construction near coastal areas, according to the World Nuclear Association.
China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection said in a report in October that the country’s nuclear safety situation was “not optimistic”, and that the use of differing types of reactors in Chinese plants made the sector “difficult to manage”.

Copyright 2013 AFP

.japantoday.com

5/1/13

Japan: Abe to review Fukushima crisis before deciding on restarting reactors

TOKYO —

Japan’s incoming pro-nuclear Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Sunday his government will again investigate the Fukushima nuclear crisis, after which the country’s reactors could be restarted, reports said.
His comments will add to speculation that plans to ditch nuclear power in disaster-scarred Japan will be shelved by his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when it takes power after scoring a landslide election win last week.
“We are yet to completely clarify what went wrong (in Fukushima),” he told a political show on Fuji TV on Sunday.

“As a government, we want to once again analyze why Fukushima Daiichi failed,” he said. He gave no further details and did not set out a timeframe for a probe.
“After that, I wish to think of next steps, including the restart of reactors,” he said on the program, according to broadcaster NHK.
“Could it have been avoided? Was it a man-made disaster? As a government, we must study that,” said Abe, according to Jiji Press.
He has previously derided the zero-nuclear goal of the ousted Democratic Party of Japan as unrealistic.
All but two of Japan’s 50 reactors remain switched off after the worst nuclear accident in a generation and anti-nuclear sentiment has run high, but that failed to translate into support at the polls for anti-atomic parties.
Several probes have already been conducted into the accident in March last year, which saw the Fukushima plant suffer meltdowns and explosions after being hit by an earthquake-triggered tsunami.
A damning parliamentary report in July concluded that the Fukushima accident was a man-made disaster caused by Japan’s culture of “reflexive obedience” and not just the tsunami that hit the plant.
Shares in Fukushima operator TEPCO have soared since Abe’s election win.

© 2012 AFP

.japantoday.com

24/12/12

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ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:

• H ιστορία στο Τόκιο:Συνομιλίες υπουργών και εμπειρογνωμόνων στη Φουκουσίμα για την πυρηνική ασφάλεια (Nuclear Safety)

• Japan beschließt Atomausstieg bis 2040

• Ιαπωνία: στροφή 180 μοιρών για την πυρηνική ενέργεια

• ΦΟΥΚΟΥΣΙΜΑ: Ορατή η απειλή για 2.500 περιστατικά καρκινογένεσης από τη ραδιενέργεια

• Απροετοίμαστες αρχές και εταιρεία για το ατύχημα στη Φουκουσίμα

• Ιαπωνία: Και δεύτερος αντιδραστήρας, τέθηκε σε λειτουργία

• Αντιδραστήρες ξανά σε λειτουργία παρά τις προειδοποιήσεις

• Η ΠΡΩΤΗ ΕΠΑΝΕΚΚΙΝΗΣΗ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗ ΦΟΥΚΟΥΣΙΜΑ. Ιαπωνία: Δύο πυρηνικοί αντιδραστήρες τίθενται ξανά σε λειτουργία

H ιστορία στο Τόκιο:Συνομιλίες υπουργών και εμπειρογνωμόνων στη Φουκουσίμα για την πυρηνική ασφάλεια (Nuclear Safety)

Η Διεθνής Υπηρεσία Ατομικής Ενέργειας από κοινού με την κυβέρνηση της Ιαπωνίας διοργανώνουν στη Νομαρχία της Φουκουσίμα διάσκεψη για την πυρηνική ασφάλεια.

Η διάσκεψη πραγματοποιείται στην πόλη Κοριγιάμα κοντά στον ατομικό σταθμό ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας της Φουκουσίμα, που είχε πληγεί λόγω του σεισμού και του τσουνάμι τον Μάρτιο του 2011.

Ο επικεφαλής του ιαπωνικού ΥΠΕΞ Κοϊτσίρο Γκέμπα δήλωσε κατά την έναρξη των εργασιών του φόρουμ ότι η ιαπωνική πλευρά ανέλυσε το ατύχημα στον πυρηνικό σταθμό και την εξέλιξη της εξάλειψης των συνεπειών του και επιθυμεί να μοιραστεί την εμπειρία της.

Ο Κοϊτσίρο Γκέμπα επέμεινε στην ανάγκη να εξαχθούν συμπεράσματα από την καταστροφή της Φουκουσίμα μετά το σεισμό και το τσουνάμι και να υπογραμμιστεί η σημασία μιας διεθνούς συνεργασίας για το τιτάνιο έργο που απαιτείται. 
 http://greek.ruvr.ru/2012_12_15/98122915/
15/12/12
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• [1] International nuclear safety conference hosted in Fukushima

This weekend, Japan hosts a nuclear safety conference which will be attended by government ministers from more than 50 countries and organizations. The conference is to be held in Fukushima Prefecture, just 60 kilometers away from the scene of one of the worst nuclear accidents of recent times.
The meeting will be in Koriyama City, west of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant which more than a year ago was badly affected by the tsunami that swept across the northeast coast of Japan and caused the nuclear reactors to go into meltdown. It is for this particular reason that Japan is co-hosting the meeting with the International Atomic Energy Agency. They aim to share the knowledge and lessons gained from this near-catastrophic disaster and how they are slowly rebuilding from this.
One crucial aspect that will be discussed during the conference is how the Japanese government is going about decommissioning the Fukushima reactors and the clean-up of the contaminated area surrounding the plant, with the constant threat of radiation. Japan is set to release a document containing these crucial information during the meeting.
IAEA director-general Yukiya Amano also told the media that they are aiming to launch a joint project with the Fukushima local government for decontamination and radiation-related health care, another important aspect of recovery from this incident. 
 http://www.freshcurrents.org/blog/2012/12/13/nuclear-free-now-press-release/
15/12/12 
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• [2] IAEA and Japan Host Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety

From 15 to 17 December 2012, Japan is organizing the Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety, in co-sponsorship with the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be held in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The Fukushima Ministerial Conference will contribute to strengthening nuclear safety worldwide by providing yet another opportunity to share with the international community, at the ministerial and expert levels, further knowledge and lessons learned from the accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (the Fukushima Daiichi accident) and to further enhance transparency.
Participants will also discuss the progress of international efforts aimed at strengthening nuclear safety, including through the implementation of the IAEA Nuclear Safety Action Plan, as well as measures to protect people and the environment from ionizing radiation.
Conference Programme
The Ministerial Conference's co-Presidents, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, Koichiro Gemba, and the Deputy-Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Malaysia, Fadillah bin Haji Yusof, will chair the opening plenary session at ministerial level.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano will address the plenary during its opening morning session, which convenes from 09.30-12.30 local time (00.30-03.30 UTC) on 15 December 2012. The text of his address will made accessible online thereafter on the Conference Website.
The Plenary Session will be broadcast live online and the webcast is accessible here.
An outcome document will be issued at the close of the plenary session on 15 December 2012.
Following the opening plenary session, the Conference will continue with working sessions on three key topics: lessons learned from the Fukushima Daiichi accident; strengthening nuclear safety, including emergency preparedness and response, in the light of the Fukushima Daiichi accident; and protection of people and the environment from ionizing radiation.
These sessions will benefit from renowned international experts' contributions as keynote speakers and as panelists.
The Chairpersons of the three working sessions will present summaries of the discussions that took place in the working sessions during the closing plenary session on Monday, 17 December 2012.
Strengthening Nuclear Safety Worldwide
After the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011, work began worldwide on implementing the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety, which was endorsed at the IAEA General Conference in September 2011.
The Fukushima Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Safety contributes to strengthening nuclear safety by exchanging lessons learned from the Fukushima nuclear accident, enhancing transparency and offering an opportunity to discuss international progress in strengthening nuclear safety, in particular the implementation of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety.
Revitalizing Fukushima
During the Conference, the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, Yuhei Sato, and the Director General will sign a memorandum of cooperation between the IAEA and Fukushima Prefecture.
Joint projects undertaken by the IAEA and Fukushima Prefecture in decontamination and human health will also be announced.
Post-Accident Status
The ministers and high-level delegations attending the Conference will be briefed on the current state of TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station and Japan's activities to revitalize the area around the Nuclear Power Station.
Site tours of the Fukushima Prefecture are planned that include a workshop on the safety of products from the disaster-affected area.

(Note to Media: We encourage you to republish these stories and kindly request attribution to the IAEA)
.iaea.org 
--------------
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ:

• Japan beschließt Atomausstieg bis 2040

• Ιαπωνία: στροφή 180 μοιρών για την πυρηνική ενέργεια

• ΦΟΥΚΟΥΣΙΜΑ: Ορατή η απειλή για 2.500 περιστατικά καρκινογένεσης από τη ραδιενέργεια

• Απροετοίμαστες αρχές και εταιρεία για το ατύχημα στη Φουκουσίμα

• Ιαπωνία: Και δεύτερος αντιδραστήρας, τέθηκε σε λειτουργία

• Αντιδραστήρες ξανά σε λειτουργία παρά τις προειδοποιήσεις

• Η ΠΡΩΤΗ ΕΠΑΝΕΚΚΙΝΗΣΗ ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗ ΦΟΥΚΟΥΣΙΜΑ. Ιαπωνία: Δύο πυρηνικοί αντιδραστήρες τίθενται ξανά σε λειτουργία

Bulgaria challenges Russia on energy issues

While there is significant disagreement within the Kremlin about how to deal with Sofia's challenge, Moscow is running out of ways to push Bulgaria into fast-tracking its commitment to South Stream, says Stratfor.

(Stratfor is Texas-based global intelligence company.)
"The dispute between Russia and Bulgaria began after Bulgaria scrapped plans for the Belene nuclear power plant, which was to be built with Russia's help.

In response to the plant's cancellation, Russian nuclear power company Atomstroyexport filed a claim of more than $1.3 billion against Sofia. The claim was prohibitive for Bulgaria, which has a yearly budget of less than $20 billion.
In September, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would visit Sofia on 9 November to finalise the agreement over the South Stream pipeline.
During the visit, Borissov said, Putin would have to answer for Atomstroyexport's claim. Shortly thereafter, the Kremlin denied that a visit to Sofia was on Putin's agenda, leading Borissov to threaten on 12 October that he would cease negotiations on the South Stream pipeline if Putin failed to visit.
The South Stream pipeline is instrumental in the Kremlin's plans to ensure steady natural gas deliveries to its Central and Southern European customers. Russia intends to use South Stream to bypass troubled Ukraine, currently the foremost transit state for Russian natural gas exports to Europe.
Bulgaria is a key transit state for the South Stream project because it is the most likely European entry point for the pipeline after it emerges from the Black Sea.
For geographic and technical reasons, the only alternative to a Bulgarian landfall would be Romania . In 2010, Moscow threatened to transfer the South Stream pipeline landfall to Romania when Bulgaria was reconsidering the terms of the project.
However, Romania has traditionally supported the competing, EU-backed Nabucco pipeline and has been generally orientated toward Brussels, creating significant hurdles for the development of the Russian project.
Russia and Romania have also consistently been at odds over the issue of Moldova . Finally, the Romanian government has been effectively paralysed since August and will continue to be until the December vote, ruling out the possibility that Moscow could quickly reach a final agreement on South Stream before the end of 2012.
And time is in short supply for Russia. Moscow is determined to finalise all the South Stream contracts in November and break ground before 2013, when, in March, the EU Third Energy Package will come into effect.
The package's provisions would force Moscow to incorporate an agreement to share transit rights on the pipeline with other exporters to Europe. While Russia is likely to eventually seek an exemption from certain EU regulations for South Stream, as it has done with the Nord Stream pipeline, the legal process is long and arduous.
However, if South Stream is built before the energy package comes into play, some observers believe it will be much easier for Russia to secure an exemption. Moscow cannot afford such a delay and has also been looking at different ways to encourage Bulgaria to sign on to South Stream as quickly as possible.
In late August, Gazprom agreed to give Bulgaria an 11% discount on natural gas imports, retroactive from April, if it committed to signing an agreement on the South Stream pipeline.
But the discount is only applicable until 15November, when the major re-negotiation of the natural gas supply contract is scheduled to be held. So far, Russia has not given any indication it would also lower prices for future contracts, prompting doubts in the Bulgarian government as to Moscow's commitment to the discount.
Bulgaria is a relatively small consumer of natural gas (2.1 billion cubic metres per year), but it is wholly dependent on Russian imports. The 11% discount would save Bulgaria $66 per thousand cubic metres - from $600 to $534 - amounting to savings of around $50 million since April.
The figure pales in comparison to the $1.3 billion that Atomstroyexport is demanding in reparations from the Bulgarian government for the Belene plant's cancellation.
While there is significant disagreement within the Kremlin about how to deal with Sofia's challenge, Moscow is running out of ways to push Bulgaria into fast-tracking its commitment to South Stream.
The crisis in Bucharest would mean delays if Russia chose Romania as an alternative route, and Moscow's usual enticement, natural gas discounts, is simply not enough for Sofia.
If Russia misses its March 2013 deadline for the beginning of construction on South Stream, it risks being found in violation of the Third Energy Package directives and further aggravating its disputes with the European Union.
Moscow will have the option of negotiating an exemption for South Stream similar to the one it procured for the Nord Stream pipeline, but the process is extremely long and, given the current tensions with the European Commission, approval is far from granted.
Therefore, Stratfor expects Russia to offer concessions to Sofia on the Belene power plant issue as well as discounts on the natural gas contract renegotiation before the end of 2012.
euractiv.com
23/10/12

Σόφια: Δεν θα πληρώσουμε αποζημίωση ενός δισ. για το Μπέλενε

Ο κ. Ντόμπρεφ επανέλαβε τις πρόσφατες καταγγελίες του, ότι «η κατασκευή του Μπέλενε αποτελεί εθνική μειοδοσία που διέπραξαν ήδη, με την υπογραφή του συμβολαίου, το 2006, διεφθαρμένοι πολιτικοί με στόχο τον προσωπικό εμπλουτισμό τους» όπως ισχυρίστηκε.....
Η Σόφια δεν έχει λόγους ν' ανησυχεί για την αγωγή της Μόσχας, που ζητάει από τη Βουλγαρία να πληρώσει ένα δισεκατομμύριο ευρώ ως αποζημίωση για τη διακοπή της κατασκευής του πυρηνικού σταθμού Μπέλενε, δήλωσε στο τηλεοπτικό δίκτυο BTV ο υπουργός Οικονομίας, Ενέργειας και Τουρισμού Ντέλιαν Ντόμπρεφ.

Σε συνέντευξή του στη σημερινή πρωινή εκπομπή του καναλιού, ο Βούλγαρος υπουργός χαρακτήρισε «εντελώς ανυπόστατο και εξωπραγματικό» το αίτημα της Atomstroyexport.
«Οι αναλύσεις που έχουμε κάνει μέχρι στιγμής δείχνουν ότι αυτά που θα έπρεπε ενδεχομένως να πληρώσουμε είναι πολύ μικρότερα ποσά από εκείνα, που ζητάει η ρωσική πλευρά. Αλλά από εδώ και πέρα δεν πρόκειται να πληρώνουμε τίποτε. Θέλαμε να συνεννοηθούμε χωρίς να πάμε σε διαιτησία, αλλά αυτό είναι αδύνατο τώρα πια» είπε ο υπουργός.
Σύμφωνα με τον κ. Ντόμπρεφ, η βουλγαρική κυβέρνηση «έχει δύο εναλλακτικά σχέδια, κανένα από τα οποία, όμως, δεν συμπεριλαμβάνει ούτε κατασκευή του Μπέλενε ούτε πληρωμή ενός δισεκατομμυρίου ευρώ ως αποζημίωση».
Ο Βούλγαρος υπουργός διευκρίνισε ότι η κυβέρνηση «έχει προσλάβει την καλύτερη εταιρεία δικηγόρων, κατά την εκτίμηση της οποίας υφίστανται όλα τα απαιτούμενα επιχειρήματα η Βουλγαρία να κερδίσει τη δίκη».
Ο κ. Ντόμπρεφ επανέλαβε τις πρόσφατες καταγγελίες του, ότι «η κατασκευή του Μπέλενε αποτελεί εθνική μειοδοσία που διέπραξαν ήδη, με την υπογραφή του συμβολαίου, το 2006, διεφθαρμένοι πολιτικοί με στόχο τον προσωπικό εμπλουτισμό τους» όπως ισχυρίστηκε.
Στο μεταξύ, τα πρωτοσέλιδα ρεπορτάζ, που αφιερώνει στο θέμα σήμερα μεγάλο μέρος του βουλγαρικού Τύπου, αναφέρονται- μεταξύ άλλων- στην πολιτική πρωτοβουλία της αριστερής αντιπολίτευσης, το σχέδιο Μπέλενε να υποβληθεί σε δημοψήφισμα.
Το σχετικό αίτημα έχουν υποστηρίξει με τις υπογραφές τους 700.000 Βούλγαροι, ενώ το Σύνταγμα της χώρας βάζει ως κατώτερο όριο 500.000 υπογραφές, όπως υπενθυμίζεται.
Πηγή: ΑΜΠΕ
kathimerini gr
12/9/12 
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[1] Cancelled Russian nuclear plant may cost Bulgaria €1 billion

Russia's Atomstroyexport is seeking €1 billion in compensation following Bulgaria’s decision to shelve plans for building the Belene nuclear power station near the River Danube. Dnevnik, EurActiv's partner publication in Bulgaria, reports.

Bulgaria in March abandoned plans to build its second nuclear power plant based on Russian technology.
The Russian daily Vzglyad quoted the Bulgarian ambassador in Moscow, Boyko Kotsev, as saying that Bulgaria cancelled the plans due to a lack of funds.
But Belene may cost dearly even if the project is cancelled. Atomstroyexport increased its compensation request from the country’s National electric company (NEK) to €1 billion, according to a report by Dnevnik. A case over Belene has been opened at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, the paper reported today (11 September). The Russian company had earlier sought €58 million.
The Russian news agency ITAR-TASS reported that the new demands made by Atomstroyexport include the cost of construction, equipment, storage and expenses for the EU stress tests following the Fukushima disaster in Japan. The company is also seeking compensation for services contracted after its Bulgarian client stopped payments...............euractiv.com 11/9/12