Press release: 23.11.07
Ex-Head of Bulgarian Nuclear Safety Authority Speaks out against Belene Project NGOs Accuse EU-Commission of Negligence The controversy around the Bulgarian Government's plan to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in an earthquake area close to the Romanian border has now reached Brussels. In a press conference today, Dr. Gueorgui Kastchiev, the former president of the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Authority presented a list of concerns and stated, "I believe that the Belene nuclear power project must be stopped as soon as possible." Kastchiev's statement comes at a sensitive time: The European Commission is due to issue an official opinion on the Belene project in early December. Although the Commission's opinion is non-binding, the Bulgarian government has nonetheless been lobbying hard for a positive assessment of the project, as this would enable it to apply for financial assistance to Euratom and the European Investment Bank. Today, a delegation with Dr. Kastchiev, who is currently senior nuclear expert at the Institute for Risk Analysis of the University of Vienna, Petko Kovatchev of the Bulgarian coalition "No to Belene!", Heffa Schücking of the German environment organisation urgewald, and Jan Haverkamp, Central European nuclear expert for Greenpeace, will meet with representatives of the European Commission to discuss the Commission's upcoming opinion on the Belene project under the Euratom treaty. As Jan Haverkamp from Greenpeace says: "The importance of the Commission's decision cannot be overestimated. The Belene project has already run into great financial difficulties and without a Euratom loan it stands little chance of being completed." The plan to build an NPP near the town of Belene in northern Bulgaria has a chequered history: The plant was conceived and partially constructed in the 1980s, scrapped in the 1990s and put back on the agenda in 2002. But the construction of the NPP is more or less on hold as private banks have been reluctant to participate in the controversial project. According to Dr. Kastchiev, "the Belene project poses intolerable safety and environmental risks. The lack of operational experience with the planned reactor type and the lack of qualified personnel and effective controls will undoubtedly lead to a poor quality of construction works," he predicts. "If one figures in the high seismic risks of the location and the low level of the nuclear safety culture in Bulgaria, it can only lead to one conclusion: This project must not go forward." Kastchiev has 34 years of experience in the nuclear power sector, half of them directly in the start-up and operation of NPPs with VVER type reactors. In regards to the upcoming decision, he says: "It would be a mistake if the Commission only bases its opinion on the design documentation, and ignores the on-the-ground reality of how such a project will be implemented in Bulgaria". It is not the first time that Kastchiev speaks out. In 2006, he blew the whistle on an incident in the Bulgarian Kozloduy nuclear power station, where one third of the regulation rods did not function. The Bulgarian authorities did not deem this incident important enough to register it with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, until Kastchiev made it public. Sofia then saw itself forced to upgrade the incident to the INES 2 level that indicates an incident with consequences for plant safety. "This is only one of many instances where Bulgarian nuclear authorities have tried to keep problems in the dark," says Kastchiev. Kastchiev furthermore pointed to the fact that the Bulgarian authorities deny the existence of any seismic risk. With a map from the European Seismological Commission from 2003, he illustrates why, for instance, in 1977 around 120 people died in Svishtov, a town only 14 km away from Belene. "The denial of seismic risk from the site of Bulgarian authorities should sound alarm bells in the Commission," he says. But apparently this is one of many issues that the Commission is bent on ignoring. Heffa Schücking from the German NGO says: "Our previous communication with the Commission shows that it is excluding some of the most relevant topics from its assessment of Belene, such as the quality of the Environmental Impact Assessment, the question of seismic risks and the low safety culture in the Bulgarian nuclear industry." She points out that due to the seismic risks even Soviet scientists demanded that Belene be taken off the list of possible sites for an NPP in the 1980s. According to Schücking, "the Commission's assessment procedures in regards to the Belene project are faulty, negligent and irresponsible. This is, after all, a matter where the health and safety of millions of Europeans is at risk.". Schücking is not alone with her opinion. Over the past few days, the EU Commission has received thousands of emails from citizens throughout Europe, who are concerned about the Commission turning a blind eye to the project's risks. "We hope very much that public concern will lead the Commission to not play Russian roulette with our future by approving this project," says Petko Kovatchev, from the Bulgarian NGO Coalition BeleNE! INFORMATION FOR THE EDITOR Construction of the Belene nuclear power station started in 1985. The project was halted in 1991, and finally dropped in 1992 due to its environmental and economic risks. In 2003, however, the Bulgarian government restarted the project and in 2006, it decided to build two completely new reactors at the Belene site. The tender for construction was won by a consortium of the Russian firm Atomstroyexport and the French / German Areva NP to build an AES-92 nuclear power station with two VVER 1000/466B reactors. This is a first of a kind reactor that has no operational record elsewhere in the world. The Environmental Impact Assessment report was finished in November 2004 - long before the reactor type was fixed -and has since then been subject to court procedures. Dr. Gueorgui Kastchiev was one of the top managers of the Koszloduj nuclear power station from 1972 to 1989, and was head of the Bulgarian Nuclear Safety Authority from 1997 to 2001. He currently holds a position as Senior Nuclear Physicist at the Institute of Risk Research in Vienna. A background briefing as well as fact sheets with a short chronology of the Belene project, its seismic risks and Dr. Kastchiev's presentation are available from [EMAIL PROTECTED] or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Queries for telephone interviews should be directed towards: +32 477 790 416 or +49 160 96761436
