BULGARIAN STATE ISSUES GUARANTEES 600 MILLION EUROS FOR BELENE NUKE PLANT

16:02 Thu 18 Oct 2007

The Cabinet decided Thursday to grant 600 million euros in state guarantees under the project to build the nuclear power plant at Belene, the government's press office reported.

In particular, the guarantees would be issued for loans from Euratom and the European Investment Bank (EIB), due to be granted next year.
The governmental decision substitutes the one granted for the 300 million euro loan from Euratom alone. The new decision provides guarantees for the EIB loan as well.

Euratom was expected to issue its loan by the end of this year; however, the European Commission delayed granting its approval.
Brussels announced it needed more time to consider the use of Russian technology at nuke plants.

This necessitated an extension of the state guarantees' validity until the end of next year, the government's press office said.

The power grid operator and manager of the Belene nuke plant project, NEC, would not immediately say whether the funds from the two institutions would be part of the project's overall loan financing of 3.997 billion euros.

Comments

Comments by Jan Haverkamp - Greenpeace - 17:46 18 Oct 2007
	There are several inaccuracies in the article. It is not sure yet whether Bulgaria will get a Euratom loan. For that, the EU Commission first has to issue a positive opinion on the project. Then Bulgaria has to apply for a loan and this application has to be accepted by the Commission. An EIB loan is even less certain. So far the EIB did not finance nuclear projects, but of course it could change that course. It also has to be remarked that the combination of a state guarantee and Euratom / EIB loans are in fact a market distorting subsidy for nuclear power. This shows once more that nuclear power after 65 years of development still cannot survive on its own without extra taxpayers money. It is high time the Bulgarian government would start to look at real sustainable energy solutions instead of wasting its tax money on dangerous nuclear projects.