BulAtom takes part in Green Transition Forum 5.0

On June 17, the Chairman of the Management Board of Bulatom, Bogomil Manchev, took part in the panel “Is Nuclear Energy the Key to Ensuring Affordable and Reliable Energy Supply?” from the second day of the fifth edition of the Green Transition Forum, organized by Dir.bg and 3E-news.

Nuclear power has a future and is part of the equation that provides security and predictability to energy supplies. This opinion was shared by the participants in the panel, which was moderated by Kaloyan Staykov, Chairman of the Management Board of the Energy Management Institute EMI, and also took part in the discussion by Tsvetelina Penkova, Member of the European Parliament, ITRE and Petyo Ivanov, Executive Director of Kozloduy NPP – New Build EAD.

In his speech, Bogomil Manchev offered a century-long view of the sector. He emphasized that a nuclear project has a 100-year life cycle – from idea to decommissioning, and this requires unprecedented political consistency. “For a nuclear power plant, four regular cabinets with a permanent vision are needed. There should be some kind of national priority,” he said.

According to him, the biggest risk facing such projects is the lack of long-term vision and political will to go beyond the short-term mandates of individual governments. “When there is no parliament, this parliament does not pass the baton to the next and the next parliament, it is very difficult to build a nuclear power plant,” Manchev said.

Bogomil Manchev also revealed the financial reality behind such a project – huge revenue potential, but also colossal risks. According to his calculations, a project such as Units 7 and 8 would generate more than 100 billion euros in revenue for its lifetime, but inflation and unforeseen costs over the 15-year construction period could also be enormous.

He was adamant that the main driver for the development of the sector, including the training of personnel, are the projects themselves. “If there is no seventh and eighth units and the state does not put it in a litter, no matter how much we want to invite people to study, they will not go,” he concluded, stressing that it is the presence of real, working projects that gives perspective to young specialists and motivates them to develop in this field.

In his speech, Bogomil Manchev also highlighted the importance of staff training, and in his words, 2000 engineers will be needed for the new units of the NPP. And the novelty of personnel is the collision with artificial intelligence, since the systems are controlled with it, but at the same time they must be protected from cyberattacks.

Source:dir.bg