Members of the European
Parliament have been made aware of the decision of the Bulgarian
Government, supported by the National Assembly on 7th June 2018, to suspend the
2012 moratorium on the construction of Belene nuclear power plant. Members of the European Parliament would
like to express their serious concerns about this decision and the recent
developments indicating the intention of the Bulgarian Government to relaunch
this dangerous project. Please find below the open letter by MEPs.
Honorable Prime Minister,
Honorable Energy Minister,
Honorable Speaker of the Bulgarian National Assembly,
Dear Members of the Bulgarian Parliament,
As Members of the European Parliament, we have been made aware of the decision of the Bulgarian Government, supported by the National Assembly on 7th June 2018, to suspend the 2012 moratorium on the construction of Belene nuclear power plant (NPP). We would like to express our serious concerns about this decision and the recent developments indicating the intention of the Bulgarian Government to relaunch this dangerous project.
In 2012, the main arguments sustaining the decisions taken by the Bulgarian Government and National Assembly to halt the construction of Belene NPP was “the apprehensions of seismic risk on the site upon which Belene NPP is located, especially following the nuclear disaster in Fukushima”. As attested by the European-Mediterranean Seismic Hazard Map developed by the European Seismological Commission in 2003, the Bulgarian Government is well aware that the site upon which the Belene NPP is supposed to be built is a zone with high seismic risk.
Surely, the Bulgarian Government has also not forgotten the destructiveness of the earthquake, which took place on 4 March 1977 in Vrancea (Romania). On that day less than 10 kilometers from the Belene NPP site, 120 people lost their lives and one third of the buildings in the nearby town of Svishtov were damaged. Following an extensive study in 1980s on the consequences of this earthquake, the Soviet partners proposed to “abandon the site of Belene due to the high seismic risk”. In 1990, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences also undertook a large independent and cross-disciplinary research which led to the conclusion that “from an energy, economic, technical, seismic, environmental and social point of view, the construction of Belene NPP is insufficiently justified or unacceptable”.
We firmly believe that these risks and the well-founded arguments still hold true today. As was already assessed by the Bulgarian Government in the past, we believe that the construction of Belene NPP would represent an unacceptable nuclear adventurism and significant life-threatening risk, for not only Bulgarian citizens, but also all EU citizens and those of the neighboring regions. A severe accident in Belene NPP, caused by a destructive earthquake, would lead to tremendous environmental, health and economic consequences for Bulgaria and the Member States of the European Union.
We therefore appeal to you to take a clear and strong stand regarding the above-mentioned facts and definitely abandon the Belene NPP project.
In the name of all signatories
Rebecca Harms, Greens/EFA
First Cross party MEP signatures:
Petras Auštrevičius, ALDE
Reinhard Bütikofer, Greens/EFA
Stefan Eck, GUE/NGL
Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA
Cornelia Ernst, GUE/NGL
Philippe Lamberts, Greens/EFA
Jo Leinen, S&D
Svetoslav Malinov, EPP
Marian-Jean Marinescu, EPP
Sirpa Pietikäinen, EPP
Carolina Punset, ALDE
Xabier Benito Ziluaga, GUE/NGL
Further MEP signatures:
Margrete Auken, Greens/EFA
Georges Bach, PPE
José Bové, Greens/EFA
Pascal Durand, Greens/EFA
Ana Gomes, S&D
Takis Hadjigeorgiou, GUE/NGL
Martin Häusling, Greens/EFA
Maria Heubuch, Greens/EFA
Benedek Jàvor, Greens/EFA
Eva Joly, Greens/EFA
Stelios Kouloglou, GUE/NGL
Merja Kyllönen, GUE/NGL
Paloma López Bermejo, GUE/NGL
Monica Macovei, ECR
Tilly Metz, Greens/EFA
Chountis Nikolaos, GUE/NGL
Dimitrios Papadimoulis, GUE/NGL
Michèle Rivasi, Greens/EFA
Bart Staes, Greens/EFA
Helga Trüpel, Greens/EFA
Monika Vana, Greens/EFA
Thomas Waitz, Greens/EFA
