Bulgaria has come closer to receiving EUR 300 M in additional EU
nuclear decommissioning aid as the EP Committee on Industry, Research, and
Energy backed the EC proposal.
On Wednesday, the EP Committee approved all amendments to the EC
proposal for additional compensations to Bulgaria over the closure of reactors
1-4 of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant proposed by the Bulgarian MEP Vladimir
Urutchev.
“The amendments are aimed at preventing all attempts to set new
conditions on the Bulgarian government over the absorption of the
decommissioning aid such as the construction of a nuclear storage facility for
which neither Bulgaria, nor the EU are ready,” Urutchev said as cited by the
press service of the European People’ Party.
“Today’s vote showed that when the Bulgarian national interests
triumphs over party bickering, we can achieve spectacular results,” he continued
praising the fact that all Bulgarian MEPs on the committee backed his
amendments.
The Committee decision has brought Bulgaria one more step closer to
getting this additional compensation for the shutting down of its four 440 MW
nuclear reactors at the Kozloduy NPP, which was initially negotiated in
September 2009. The EUR 300 M in question come on top of the some EUR 550 M that
Bulgaria has already received as compensation since 2000.
At the beginning of April 2010, the EP Environment Committee defeated
the report of the German MEP Rebecca Harms demanding that the allocating of the
EUR 300 M to Bulgaria be made conditional on its starting to build a nuclear
waste storage site, and that the funds be used solely for projects related with
the Kozloduy NPP.
Thus, the Bulgarian government will be able to realize its intentions
to use about EUR 180 M from the decommissioning package for projects related to
the technical putting out of operation of the four reactors and for social
projects in the town Kozloduy, and to channel the remaining EUR 120 M into
projects for renewable energy and energy efficiency.
The proposal for Bulgaria’s additional nuclear decommissioning aid of
EUR 300 M still has to be passed by the entire European Parliament. The vote is
scheduled for the next plenary session of the EP on May 17-20. Bulgaria is
expected to get the first EUR 75 M from the package in June 2010.