The National Assembly adopted a draft decision on the construction of a new nuclear power plant at the Kozloduy NPP.

The proponent of the draft decision is Delyan Dobrev from GERB-SDS.

It was voted with 112 votes "for", "against" - 45, 39 - "abstained".

The draft decision on assigning the Council of Ministers to conduct negotiations with the US government regarding the conclusion of an Intergovernmental Agreement on the construction of a new nuclear power plant at the Kozloduy NPP with AP1000 technology was supported by the deputies of GERB-SDS, DPS and "Democratic Bulgaria". , "Bulgarian Rise" and an independent.

"Against" were the MPs from "Vazrazhdane" and "BSP for Bulgaria".

People's representatives from "Continuing the Change" voted with "abstentions".

With the decision, the Council of Ministers, through the Minister of Energy, undertakes by March 1, 2023, to take all the necessary actions for the construction of an energy facility - a nuclear power plant for the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA)-approved site number 2 - block 7 of the NPP. Kozloduy".

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In addition, the MC must also take all the necessary actions to start the licensing procedure and the EIA procedure for the construction of a second identical unit on the site approved by the NRA (unit 8 of the Kozloduy NPP).

The Council of Ministers must also make a decision to declare the energy object - a nuclear power plant - as an "object of national importance" in the sense of the Territorial Planning Act and as a "national object" in the sense of the State Property Act.

In the course of the discussion, Radoslav Rybarski from "We continue the Change" stated that he could not accept that the National Assembly is the body that should determine the type of reactor and therefore proposed an editorial amendment - that the Council of Ministers conduct negotiations with the US government to conclude agreement to build new nuclear power without clarifying the exact model.

His proposal was put to a vote in the plenary hall, but was not accepted.

Rumen Gechev stated that "BSP for Bulgaria" has nothing against the construction of reactors at the Kozloduy NPP, but insisted that we first finish the Belene NPP before negotiating for new reactors.

The deputy specified that the two reactors of the Belene NPP cost over 600 million. According to Gechev, at the moment Westinghouse is owned by Canadian companies, not American ones, and therefore there is no way in the draft decision to oblige the Council of Ministers to conduct negotiations with the US.

Kostadin Kostadinov, chairman of "Vazrazhdane", stated that Bulgaria should develop its energy strategy in the direction of increasing its nuclear power, but not in this way.

Rosen Kosturkov from "Continuing the Change" noted that the entire hall agreed that Bulgaria should develop nuclear energy.

"For me, as a former trader, determining the type of reactors is happiness for the trader, and as a deputy - this is the definition of lobbying. According to the deputy, with this draft decision, a blank check is given to the seller of this type of reactor. For me, this contradicts my understanding of doing business," commented Kosturkov.

Temenuzka Petkova from GERB-SDS explained that the National Assembly makes a decision according to the requirements of the Energy Act that the state policy is implemented by the Parliament and the Council of Ministers.

She pointed out that until now we only work with Russian technology and it is good for Bulgaria to diversify these technologies.

We have been working on this topic since 2012, we have carried out an EIA, we have approved site number 2 of the Kozloduy NPP, she pointed out.

Petkova said that we should not forget that it is impossible for Bulgaria to achieve the decarbonization goals if we do not use nuclear energy - for the last one year we have seen that electricity from the Kozloduy NPP is at the best prices.

Petkova also pointed to the rich experience in the field of nuclear energy.

All the prerequisites for Bulgaria to build a new nuclear power are present,

Georgi Samandov from "Bulgarski Vozhod" stated that where there are Russian reactors, there are also American reactors, there were such examples in Hungary and Poland.

Nastimir Ananiev stated that the PP is for the development of nuclear energy, but not in this lobbyist way.

National Assembly

Kozloduy NPP

new nuclear power