There are conflicting reports about financial support for decommissioning the units. Emil Vapirev, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Agency, said the agency cannot issue a permit for closing the reactors if no financial resources are guaranteed. “A permit can be issued only to an organisation which has the necessary means. If the necessary means do not exist, I have no idea who will sign the document on decommissioning the reactors,” he said, adding that so far only 10% of the necessary funds have been guaranteed. Reports that he had threatened to resign over this issue were later denied.
Kozloduy managing director Yordan Kostadinov said the station has enough funds. The EU will partly finance the closure, and Kozloduy’s two nuclear funds — for decommissioning reactors and for nuclear waste storage — will provide the rest. The project is expected to cost at least Euro 500 million. Under the agreement the Bulgarian Government and the EU signed in 1999, Bulgaria has to close the units by the end of 2002 in exchange for Euro 100 million in compensation. The government can use only Euro 34 million of the total, and the rest will be used to build and upgrade power utilities.
