site.btaEuropean Parliament Energy Committee Adopts Report on Kozloduy NPP with Bulgarian MEP as Rapporteur

December 4 (BTA) - The European Parliament Committee
on Industry, Research and Energy voted, 38-3, to approve a draft
 report on a dedicated financial programme for decommissioning
of nuclear facilities at the Kozloduy and Bohunice NPPs, with
Bulgarian MEP Peter Kouroumbashev (Progressive Alliance of
Socialists and Democrats) as rapporteur, Kouroumbashev's office
said in a press release.

After negotiations, the Committee reached a compromise, deciding
 that projects and activities funded in the period 2021-2027
under the Kozloduy programme or the Bohunice programme will be
subject to a minimum EU co-financing rate set at 50 per cent,
rather than to a maximum rate of 50 per cent, as the European
Commission proposed.

The Committee also supported Kouroumbashev's proposal that, just
 as in the previous programme, Bulgaria will get 60 per cent of
the requisite funding from the EU.

"The draft proposal was supplemented, clearly stating that
Kozloduy Units 3 and 4 were decommissioned prematurely and could
 have operated even to date, generating electricity at a price
of 100 leva/MWh or some 400 million euro annually. A sovereign
decision made by sovereign states is one thing. In this case,
however, this was a condition set by the European Union which at
 that time consisted of 15 Member States," the press release
says.

The Kozloduy and Bohunice programmes were established in the
context of the negotiations for accession to the EU of Bulgaria
and Slovakia. The current proposal follows up on the Union
commitment to provide financial support to both Member States in
 decommissioning respectively the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
Units 1-4 and the Bohunice VI Nuclear Power Plant. In addition,
it includes also a Decommissioning and Waste Management (D&WM)
Programme for European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)
nuclear research sites in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and
Italy. Under the current proposal, 63 million euro will be
allocated for the Kozloduy Programme, 55 million euro for the
Bohunice Programme, and 348 million euro for the JRC.

"I am glad that I was able to convince my colleagues to reject a
 proposal by the European United Left/Nordic Green Left Group
for a closure of nuclear facilities in Europe," the Bulgarian
MEP said.

The European Parliament will now have to take a plenary vote on
the next EU budget, on the basis of which the funding for
Bulgaria and Slovakia will be allocated. LI/LG


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