Belene Nuclear Power Plant

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Set construction ( gross ):

The nuclear power plant Belene ( Bulgarian АЕЦ Белене ) was a planned but never finished nuclear power plant in northern Bulgaria. The site is located 3 km from Belene and 11 km from the town of Svishtov away Located in the Oblast Pleven on the Danube.

History

Construction of two reactor units of type WWER-1000/320 took place in 1987, between 1988 and 1990 about 40 % of the reactor block 1 were completed and delivered 80 % of the equipment. Originally the creation of four to six 1000 - MW units was planned, but the construction was set in 1990 despite positive opinions of the IAEA to build due to lack of money and after civil protests.

In 2003, five nuclear power plant builders have announced their interest in completing the project or the construction of new blocks. In July 2005, the government gave the building with a capacity of 2,000 MW back their popularity. E & C Europe was commissioned as a new main contractor with the new planning and design of the project. Here, the construction of two VVER reactors was decided, however, not in the formerly planned, obsolete variant WWER-1000/320 but as WWER-1000/466 in design of the AES -92.

After the elections in October 2006 Atomstroyexport (ASE ) was selected for construction. The State Russian companies should complete the Belene nuclear power plant and build the two WWER-1000/466 as AES -92. As in this consortium also Associated company Areva should the safety instrumentation and control, supply the reactor protection and the limitation of the reactor and the neutron flux measurement and the control rod control among others. This should be implemented with the digital control platform Teleperm XS. Through the consortium partner Siemens control technology should be delivered in non-nuclear area. In January 2008, the contract was concluded, the estimate amounted to 3.9 billion dollars. Over the following years had twelve international banks, including German Bank, Commerzbank and HypoVereinsbank, refrained from funding of the project by international protests by environmental groups.

The plants should be set up similar to the nuclear power plant Tianwan in China. The commercial operation was planned 2013-2014. Areva should then manage the training of staff and the first loading of the reactor. The projected cost of the facility was, according to the IAEA to 3.7 cents / kWh. Škoda had proposed to build the reactors based on the version 320, but with enhanced technology, as in Temelín in the Czech Republic. The cost would be but then increased to over $ 5 billion. Some parts of this reactor have already been delivered in Belene. However, after rescheduling on an AES -92, the parts were unusable, so ASE bought up these components. The offer of the consortium led by Škoda was knocked out.

The state-owned power plants in Bulgaria Natsionalna Elektricheska Kompania ( NEK ) stated that the AES -92 blocks would have a very high western standards, and thus, would have been compatible with the EU directives that have been validated by Accession 2007. On a call for tenders in 2007 on the financing and operation of the facility, among other things Suez 's Electrabel, Enel, RWE, E.ON and CEZ competed. In October 2008, RWE was awarded the contract and should therefore be part of future owners. Environmental organizations protested on the grounds that the site lies in an earthquake zone. 1977, the last major earthquake occurred with catastrophic consequences in neighboring Romania. The German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hanover expects in the region continues with strong earthquake of 7.5 to 8.5 on the Richter scale.

In October 2009, RWE announced after further protests from environmental groups and internal disputes between the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board to withdraw from the project known. The reason given for withdrawal of RWE with the unsecured financing of the project, as has now assumed a total cost of 10 billion euros instead of the original estimate of 4 billion euros. After the departure of RWE, Bulgaria had announced the setting of the construction work on the project for the next year and a half to get time to search for new investors.

In August 2010, the Bulgarian Minister of Economy announced that the estimated costs for the power plant had risen to 9 billion EUR, confirming the aforementioned RWE magnitude. Although the Russian government had offered in the spring of 2010 a loan of two billion dollars for the continuation of construction work, the Bulgarian government decided to continue the project only when a Western investor had been found.

On 28 March 2012, the Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Finance announced finally that the country get out of the building contracts with Russia and instead will build on the same site a gas power plant. The exit from the nuclear power plant project was heavily criticized by the opposition, in particular from the PBS. They therefore sought an referendum on the continued construction of the power plant, which was conducted on January 27, 2013. Although this case almost 60 % of voters voted for the further construction, however, was a turnout of just over 20% of the necessary quorum of 60 % clearly missed, so that the exit decision of the government is likely to continue.

Data of the reactor units

For the nuclear power plant two blocks were planned: