Bulgaria votes 'Yes' for New Nuclear Plant

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) -- Bulgaria's citizens have voted in favour of building a new nuclear power plant (NPP) but it may not count.

Despite the 'Yes' vote carrying the day in a recent national referendum on the nuclear power question, a low turnout looks to have invalidated the vote. The voters, calculated by an exit poll, puts the turnout out at around 20%, well below the 60% turnout required to make the vote binding.

Initial reports suggested that 60% voted in favour of a new nuclear power plant (NPP), but the low turnout means that the vote will be non-binding. The referendum concerned whether or not Bulgarians want a new nuclear power plant with a generating capacity of 2,000-megawatts (MW) built at Belene, where some construction has already taken place. Up to €715 million ($950 million) has already been spent by the state on the project.

The referendum vote was forced by the opposition socialist party who are in favour of the project and, when last in power, had awarded the contract for the project to Atomstroyexport (Moscow, Russia) in 2006. For additional information, see November 29, 2012, article - Bulgaria Sets Date for Nuclear Power Referendum.

In March last year, the Bulgarian government abandoned plans for the construction of the Belene plant, claiming it could not afford the €10 billion ($12.25 billion) price tag. In April, the government said it would instead look to constructing a gas-fired power plant at the Belene site. For additional information, see April 2, 2012, article - Bulgaria Replaces Belene Nuclear Power Plant with Gas-fired Plant.

Around 40% of Bulgaria's power comes the 40-year old Kozloduy nuclear plant located near the Romanian border, which has a generating capacity of 2000 MW. There have been some proposals to change the current licensing laws regarding the plant that would raise the capacity and extend the operational lives of the two reactors there for an extra four years. For additional information, see August 29, 2012, article - Bulgaria Tries to Strengthen Nuclear Energy Capacity with Kozloduy Unit.

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