BIA OPINION ON THE CONTINUATION OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF NPP "BELENE"

BIA sent to the National Assembly its opinion on the drafts submitted for decision to continue the construction of NPP "Belene".

Bulgarian Industrial Association is unable to define the need for restarting the "Belene" project for the following reasons:

• There is no reasonable long-term economic and energy strategy, part of which should be the "Belene" project;
• BIA does not have access to a complete expert information about the parameters of the project to evaluate its effectiveness Including amount of investment, government participation scheme funding markets, the price of electricity, etc.;
• Bulgaria is given by the European Commission as an example of artificially maintaining economically and environmentally inefficient plants for which consumers pay.
• At issue now is the need for new power generation capacity for domestic consumption, especially given that the Bulgarian electricity system has significant overcapacity of production;

Our strong position is that:

The state should not engage in financial implementation of the project for a new nuclear power plant and its implementation should be carried out only on the basis of private participation, taking into account the investment made to date and strict observance of safety requirements.

State and state-owned companies should be linked to the purchase of electricity generated by nuclear plants and future price conditions thereof.

Any energy project is to be implemented in strict compliance with Bulgarian and European legislation, and state intervention in the electricity market should be limited to cases where there is a real threat to a shortage of capacity and security of supply.