Bulgaria's economy and energy minister said Friday his country would be pressing for twice the compensation promised by the European Commission for closing reactors at its only nuclear plant.
"A sum of about one billion euros (1.3 billion dollars) is reasonable compensation if we of course fail to obtain a re-opening of the reactors," Rumen Ovcharov told national radio.
In order to secure its accession into the European Union, Bulgaria closed four out of six reactors at its only nuclear power plant at the northern town of Kozloduy in return for 550 million euros in compensation by the European Commission.
In line with its engagement, Bulgaria mothballed in 2002 its two oldest 440-megawatt facilities 1 and 2 and shut down on December 31 two other old but revamped 440-megawatt blocs, 3 and 4.
Only the two most modern 1,000-megawatt reactors remained in operation, prompting authorities to renounce the country's position as the major energy exporter to the Balkans and completely cut off electricity shipments to the rest of the region.
Ovcharov cited Friday "electricity shortages in the region" as the country's argument for pressing for a re-opening of reactors 3 and 4.
"We already have quite strong demands for electricity shipments by Kosovo and Macedonia," he said.
Bulgaria exported in 2006 some 7.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to the energy-hungry Balkans and it hopes that looming shortages in the region might also prompt the European Commission to rethink its position and re-open the two blocs.
