Sofia (AFP)
The Bulgarian nuclear authorities on Tuesday extended for ten years the operating license for the second reactor of the only nuclear power plant in the country, located in Kozlodoui (north), whose construction dates back to Soviet times.
This reactor, whose license expires in 2021, has successfully passed the tests of resistance led by the Russian companies Rosatom and French EDF, according to the Bulgarian authority of nuclear regulation
The executive director of the plant, Nasko Mihov, said Tuesday that this unit was even able to operate another 30 years in view of the test results.
The other reactor still in service in Kozlodoui had obtained in 2017 a ten-year operating license.
Located on the Danube, the plant, which supplies 34% of the country's energy, will now have to apply for a license every ten years.
Units 1 to 4 in Kozlodoui, considered obsolete, had been closed in 1998 and 2006 at the request of Brussels, which had made it one of the conditions for Bulgaria's accession to the EU.
A controversial project for a second nuclear power plant in Belene, west of Kozlodoui, has recently been revived after many twists and turns. Seven groups, including China's CNNC, Russia's Rosatom and South Korea's KHNP have submitted bids to complete the facility, which already has two 1,000-MW Russian-made reactors.
Bulgaria is often criticized by Washington and Brussels for its dependence on Russia for energy. More than 95% of the gas and 80% of the oil consumed in the country is supplied by Russia. And the only refinery in the country belongs to the Russian giant Loukoil.
© 2019 AFP