Bogomil Manchev: The best option is the state to build Belene NPP and Units 7 and 8 of Kozloduy NPP
It is a fallacy to say that if there is a project for two units of Belene NPP and one of them is taken (reactor), the same project may be "adapted" for (7th unit) for Kozloduy NPP. In practice, Belene is left not without one reactor, but without anything. When you remove one reactor from a two-reactor sproject, you no longer have a project. And there is no project for Kozloduy. There will be no project for Belene either. This was said in the studio of "Face to Face" on BTV by the chairman of Bulatom Bogomil Manchev. He also explained that the construction of Unit 7 of the Kozloduy NPP will take between 12 and 15 years, as it is essentially a new project. Bulgaria needs both projects - Belene NPP and Units 7 and 8 of Kozloduy NPP, because of the "green deal", the Chairman of Bulatom was adamant. In addition, according to him, the best option is the state to build both projects.
If in 2012 the government decided to suspend the Belene NPP project due to financial impossibility, today financial impossibility is a secondary issue. The first issue concerns the production of clean energy, said Manchev in an analysis of the situation between 2012 and now in 2021. He recalled that in 2012, although vaguely, there was already talk about the production of "clean" energy. Today, "the green deal” is a fact and we must somehow resolve this issue. Therefore, the financial issue of building a nuclear power plant is beginning to become a secondary issue. The first issue is how we will replace 18 million MWh with clean energy, the expert said.
"The substitution of Belene with Kozloduy is a government decision. As the two installations at the Belene site are state-owned, the government, represented by the Council of Ministers, may decide to send them to Kozloduy or leave them in Belene," he said. The expert left no doubts: “From a purely technical point of view, nuclear power units can be built in both places. From a purely licensing point of view, we will lose the 7 or 8 years we are ahead of at the Belene site."