EU OFFICIAL PLEDGES AID FOR BULGARIA
TO CLOSE REACTORS

The European Union will help Bulgaria meet the costs of closing down four aging reactors at its only nuclear power plant, announced Guenther Verheugen, commissioner for EU expansion.

"Early closure of the four reactors will of course entail cost," Verheugen said. "We have repeatedly declared that the commission is ready to assist Bulgaria in meeting such costs." He made his comments in a video-recorded address to participants in an international meeting in Sofia discussing the Balkan country's progress toward EU membership.

Verheugen did not specify the amount of the aid. The Commission has suggested that an EU summit invites Bulgaria in December to talks on membership about the same time that a timetable is agreed on shutting down units 1-4 in the Kozlodui power plant. The EU is concerned about the safety of the Soviet designed, 440-megawatt, pressurized water reactors without safety encasements. The station, located 200 kilometers north of Sofia, also has two newer 1,000 megawatt reactors with encasements, which went on line in 1989.

Verheugen said that the European Union is prepared to finance the modernization of those two newer units but the older four reactors "cannot be brought up to western safety standards at a reasonable cost."

Bulgaria's parliament last week empowered the government to negotiate with the EU on closure of the four older reactors.

On other criteria of EU membership, Verheugen said that, "democracy is firmly established," and the country "has made sustained progress" in rewriting its legislation to fit West European standards. "We recognize and welcome the substantial progress Bulgaria has made towards establishing a functioning market economy," Verheugen said citing the country's high degree of price and trade liberalization. But he added that Bulgaria must complete privatization, align accounting standards and tax collection to EU standards and develop a stable environment for business. (News provided by Bulgaria Analytica)