This article or section contains information about a planned or expected power plant. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the power plant approaches, and more information becomes available.

The Belene Nuclear Power Plant (Bulgarian: Атомна електроцентрала „Белене“) is a nuclear power plant currently in construction 3 km from Belene and 11 km from Svishtov in Pleven Province, northern Bulgaria, near the Danube River. It is planned to substitute four outdated VVER-440 V230 reactors of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... A nuclear power station. ... Belene (Bulgarian Белене) is a town in Northern Bulgaria. ... Svishtov is a Bulgarian town at Danube river, nearly 235 km north-east from Sofia. ... Pleven region shown within Bulgaria Pleven is a province in northern Bulgaria, neighbouring Romania. ... Length 2,888 km Elevation of the source 1,078 m Average discharge 30 km before Passau: 580 m³/s Vienna: 1,900 m³/s Budapest: 2,350 m³/s just before Delta: 6,500 m³/s Area watershed 817,000 km² Origin Black Forest (Schwarzwald-Baar, Baden- Württemberg... WWER-10ff (also VVER-1000 as a direct translitteration from Russian ВВЭР-1000). ... The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria situated 200 km north of Sofia and 5 km east of Kozloduy, a town on the Danube river, near the border with Romania. ...

History

Early project

The Belene site was approved for the construction of a second Bulgarian NPP by a Council of Ministers decree on 20 March 1981. The site was handed to the Ministry of Economics on 31 December 1981 and the documentation for the construction site's preparation was prepared in the late 1980 and early 1981 by Energoproekt Sofia. The site's preparation in accordance with the draft projects began in the early 1981. The Council of Ministers building in central Sofia The Council of Ministers (Bulgarian: , Ministerski savet) is the main authority of the executive power in the Republic of Bulgaria. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... December 31 is the 365th day of the year (366th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Position of Sofia in Bulgaria Coordinates: Country Bulgaria Province Sofia-City Mayor Boyko Borisov Area    - City 1,310 km²  - Land (?) km²  - Water (?) km² Elevation 550 m Population (15 September 2006)  - City 1,246,791  - Density 907/km²  - Metro 1,377,761 Time zone EET (UTC+2)  - Summer (DST) EEST (UTC...

The foundations of the future power plant were laid in 1987 after the design of Atomenegroproekt Kiev from the USSR and Energoproekt Sofia. The design suggested the construction of four VVER-1000/V 320 reactors. Between 1988 and 1990 40% of the construction work of reactor 1 was finished and 80% of the equipment was supplied. The project was abandoned in 1990 due to the democratic changes in Bulgaria and only conservational work was done. Location Map of Ukraine with Kiev highlighted. ...

Restart

On 20 December 2002 the Council of Ministers made the decision to restart the project due to the future abandonment of four reactors of the Kozloduy NPP. The Ministry of Energetics began to renew the available equipment and examine the possible construction of the new nuclear plant. In February 2003 Minister Milko Kovachev sent letters to six leading companies in the sphere of nuclear energetics asking them to provide up-to-date technical, economic and financial information regarding the project. December 20 is the 354th day of the year (355th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ...

A working group of experts was formed by an order of the Ministry of Energetics and Power Resources of 27 May 2003, which included experts from the Ministry of Energetics and Power Resources, the Ministry of Environment and Waters, the Ministry of Transport and Communication, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Healthcare, the Agency for Nuclear Regulation, the State Commission for Power Regulation, the State Agency for Civil Protection, the National Electric Company and BulAtom. A programme for the exprert commission's work was approved on 4 July 2003. It includes four stages: May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... For the United States holiday, the Fourth of July, see Independence Day (United States). ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• Pre-project examination and valuation of the environmental effect
• Decision for the construction, organization of an auction and election of a project executor
• Negotiations and conclusion of an agreement with the executor
• Construction and putting into operation

It was announced in May 2005 that the electricity produced by the Belene NPP would cost between 3.2 and 3.7 eurocents per kW·h, meaning it would be the most expensive electric power ever produced in Bulgaria. For comparison, the plant producing the most expensive power in the country is currently the Bobovdol Thermal Power Plant selling the National Electric Company electricity for 4.85 stotinki or 2.48 eurocents per kW·h, and the Kozloduy NPP produces electricity for 1.49 stotinki (0.76 eurocents) as of 2005.^[1] The euro (€; ISO 4217 code EUR) is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five nations that form the European Union (and four outside it, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo), which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). ... The watt hour (symbol W·h) is a unit of energy. ... The Lev (lv) (Bulgarian: лев, plural - лева, левове (leva)) is the currency of Bulgaria. ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

In late October 2006 the offer of the French Framatome, the German Siemens and the Russian Atomstroyexport using third-generation VVER-1000/V-446B reactors was approved by the National Electric Company. The offer was selected due to the highest safety level guaranteed by several new independent active and passive safety systems, as well as the option for Atomstroyexport to buy back the old unit supplied in the 1980s. Another reasons was the 60-year operation term. According to the Atomstroyexport president, the first unit would be in operation by 2013 and the second a year later.^[1] AREVA (Euronext: CEI) is a France-based multinational industrial conglomerate that deals in energy, especially in nuclear power. ... Siemens AG (FWB:SIE, NYSE: SI) is the worlds largest electronics company. ...

2004 discrediting letter

An anonymous letter was spread on 4 May 2004, after the governmental decision regarding the plant, claiming that it was planned the Canadian state company AECL would bribe the Bulgarian government in order to be chosen to construct the plant. According to the letter, Prime Minister Simeon Sakskoburggotski's agents have contacted high-ranking employees of the Canadian corporation to ask for a commission. It was claimed that one of the agents was Marie Louise, Sakskoburggotski's sister, who had ties in Canada because she had lived there. Ignat Kaneff, a Bulgarian-born Canadian businessman, and his wife Dimitrina, allegedly a former State Security agent, according to the letter planned to conceal the Prime Minister's bribe by bying part of his estates in Bulgaria for an unrealistically high price. Kaneff offered to receive the money as part of a deal for the future Canadian embassy in Sofia.^[2] May 4 is the 124th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (125th in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation with the responsibility to manage Canadian nuclear policy, promote nuclear energy and research, and to oversee nuclear waste developed by Canadian nuclear reactors as well as manage the decommissioning of older reactors. ... Prime Ministers, 1879-1946 Todor Stoyanov Burmov 17 July 1879 - 6 December 1879 Archbishop Kliment Turnovski 6 December 1879 - 5 April 1880 Dragan Kiriakov Tsankov 5 April - 10 December 1880 Petko Karavelov 10 December 1880 - 9 May 1881 Johann Casimir Ernrot 9 May - 13 July 1881 Prince Alexander 13 July... Simeon Sakskoburggotski as Prime Minister of Bulgaria Simeon II (born June 16, 1937) was the last Tsar of Bulgaria from 1943 to 1946, and is the current Prime Minister of Bulgaria. ... Princess Maria Louise (Bulgarian: ; b. ...

Information about the letter first appeared in a Canadian newspaper and was spread in Bulgaria several days later, when it was given to Sofia Press journalists after a press conference of the Belene Coalition, which is against the project's implementation.

According to the government, the letter is entirely incorrect, written in Bulgaria and not Canada as proven by expert linguists, the bribe cited ($40 to 80 million) is unrealistically high and Marie Louise had lived in Canada too long ago to have any ties there.^[3] Investigations began in Bulgaria and Canada, but without any result. AECL denied to have been demanded a bribe and the discrediting letter's author was not found. ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 3. ...

Criticism

A number of environmental and anti-nuclear organizations (including Greenpeace) have declared their opposition to the plant's construction. This is a list of environmental organizations, organizations that preserve or monitor the environment in different ways. ... The anti-nuclear movement holds that nuclear power is inherently dangerous and thus ought to be replaced with safe and affordable renewable energy. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

The arguments used by Greenpeace against the project include:^[2]

• alleged negative effect on the tourist industry and the agriculture of northern Bulgaria
• alleged safety issues over the Russian technology used (VVER-1000)
• location in a seismic active zone
• too expensive, the money could be better invested in alternative energy sources
• allegedly dangerous in case of a terrorist attack
• alleged problems with the transportation, procession and preservation of the nuclear waste.

Concerns regarding the construction of the plant have mainly been felt in nearby Romania, with articles in the newspapers such as Cotidianul, România Liberă and Ziarul even going as far as comparing the project with Chernobyl despite a new generation of VVER reactors is to be used, and not the cheaper graphite-moderated RBMK series like Chernobyl's.^[3] Cotidianul is a Romanian newspaper, published Monday to Saturday in Berliner format. ... România Liberă is one of the leading newspapers in Romania. ... Ziarul is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. ... Chernobyl reactor 4 after the disaster, showing the extensive damage to the main reactor hall (image center) and turbine building (image lower left) The early stages of construction of the sarcophagus. ... Graphite (named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789, from the Greek γραφειν: to draw/write, for its use in pencils) is one of the allotropes of carbon. ... In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium which reduces the velocity of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction. ... RBMK is an acronym for the Russian reaktor bolshoy moshchnosti kanalniy (Russian: Реактор Большой Мощности Канальный) which means reactor (of) high power (of the) channel (type), and describes a now obsolete class of graphite-moderated nuclear power reactor which was built only in the Soviet Union. ...

There is also considerable doubt regarding the project's financial effectiveness, with no economic grounds being published as of May 2006. In addition to this, no investor is willing to execute the project without considerable financial state support. 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

1. ^ Цанев, Белчо. "Дадоха “Белене” на руснаците", Standart News, 2006-10-31. Retrieved on 2006-10-31. (in Bulgarian)
2. ^ Press release of Greenpeace about the Belene project (Romanian). Retrieved on 2006-10-31.
3. ^ "Атака срещу “Белене”", Standart News, 2006-10-18. Retrieved on 2006-10-31. (in Bulgarian)

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... October 31 is the 304th day of the year (305th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 61 days remaining. ...

External links

• Official site of the Belene NPP Construction project
• Information about the project at the Ministry of Energetics and Power Resources website (Bulgarian)
• Photo gallery of the Belene NPP at the National Electric Company website
• Campaign against the plant's construction
• Article about the project (Bulgarian)

Coordinates: 43°38′N 25°08′E Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ...