Bulgaria’s closure of electricity export causes problems to the region

SOFIA, Dec. 31 – Though European Union experts said that Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power plant (NPP) was safe, the country had to close two of its reactors as a pre-condition for joining the block. For Bulgaria that meant the loss of billions of Euro from their export revenue, but it was also expected that electricity might become scarce, and its costs could soar, especially for the Balkan region. The closure has entirely changed the energy situation in the region as Bulgaria was the biggest electricity exporter on the Balkans and supplies Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Kosovo and Turkey with electricity. A citizens’ committee said Bulgaria would lose 10 billion Euros from missed revenue, possible energy imports costs and the reactors’ shutting down cost. A recent poll showed that three quarters of all Bulgarians were against the reactor closure. Bulgaria had some hopes to keep the reactors functioning or at least to postpone the closure. The country had paid hundreds of millions of Euro for the reactors’ security systems to meet EU requirements. Still, European Commission insisted on the reactor closure.