Bulgaria’s future second nuclear power plant (NPP) Belene was dangerous, expensive and unnecessary, German newspaper Der Tagesspiegel said.

The newspaper criticised the positive assessment of the European Commission (EC) and particularly of Energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs for the NPP.

After the EC announced its approval of the NPP, Bulgaria could receive the credits requested from Euroatom or the European Investment Bank. It would be a precedent in the European nuclear policy and would threaten the security of millions of EU citizens, Der Tagesspiegel said as quoted by mediapool.bg.

Greenpeace expert Jan Haverkamp said that he was afraid EC’s positive decision on Belene marked the revival of nuclear energy in Europe. Euroatom funds had not been invested in the construction of new reactors for more than 20 years. What was unique was that, for the first time, the construction of a Russian reactor on the EU territory would be funded, he said.

Belene threatens to become Russian nuclear industry’s Trojan horse, Der Tagesspiegel said. Until now the Western banks were reserved towards funding nuclear projects in Eastern Europe. Romania, Slovakia and the Baltic Sea countries have already prepared 15 projects for nuclear reactors. The Belene approval might become a sign for the Russian nuclear lobby, which would have the greatest chances to carry out these projects.

Not only environmentalists disapproved the Belene construction. The newspaper quoted former Bulgarian Committee for Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy head Georgi Kaschiev as saying that there was a great risk in the Belene project. The plant would feature Russian reactors, which had not been used in industrial operation yet. Their technical quality was doubtful, he said. Moreover, Bulgaria did not have qualified personnel for the construction and exploitation of the installation and the country had no idea how to cope with nuclear refuse storage.

The greatest risk for people and the environment was the location of the plant, Kaschiev said. In 1977, only 14km away from the Belene construction plot, an earthquake killed 170 people and destroyed a number of houses. Building a NPP on such a place was like playing Russian roulette, the expert said.

Neutral Bulgarian experts and environmentalists were unanimous that the NPP was unnecessary and economically unsuitable. Bulgaria was one of the poorest countries in Europe and its energy was wasted in a most irresponsible way. Still, calculations showed that the country would not suffer energy shortages, even without the new NPP, the newspaper said.