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The Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme for South Eastern EuropeREReP Record |
| Bulgarian nuke plant project finds backer in BNP Paribas BNP Paribas’ planned financial involvement in Bulgaria’s Belene nuclear power facility sparked June protests from green groups in 15 European countries. The harshest critics of the plan argue that the facility is a “second Chernobyl” waiting to happen. The project is so controversial that 11 of Europe’s leading banks turned down the project before the French bank, Europe’s fifth largest, stepped in: Commerzbank, UniCredit, Societe General, Citibank and Credit Suisse are among those who see such involvement as too risky – at least to their reputations. The Belene Project was conceived in the early 1980s, a few years after a 1977 earthquake just 14 kilometres from the proposed site killed 120 people. Construction on Belene started in 1985, shortly before the Chernobyl catastrophe took place. Construction ground to a halt in the 1990s after the Bulgarian Cabinet found the project “technically unsafe and not economically viable,” but the government announced plans in 2004 to restart the project. According to Greenpeace, the proposed pair of reactors are of Russian design, have never been built before, and have not been officially assessed for safety. BNP Paribas’ CEO Badouin Prot later met with green
opponents and announced plans to proceed with a EUR 250 million “general
corporate loan” to Bulgarian utility NEK, but denied that the funds
will be used for Belene facility construction. |
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