It would be good for Bulgaria in 2051 to wake up with four working nuclear

This was stated by Bogomil Manchev, Chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum, during 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.

“In the nuclear energy sector, we are talking about projects that last for the next 100 years – that’s how long it takes from research to the end of a power plant’s operation. It is very important that these 100 years are realized by the political class – not by the technocrats, but by the political class. And this is the biggest risk to the future of nuclear energy,” he warned during the discussion focusing on the role of nuclear energy in the region’s energy future.

The panel was moderated by Kaloyan Staykov, Chairman of the Board of the Institute for Energy Management, and the discussion was also attended by Tsvetelina Penkova, Member of the European Parliament, ITRE, and Petyo Ivanov, Executive Director of Kozloduy NPP – New Build EAD. Bogomil Manchev thanked the organizers from Green Transition Forum and Dir.bg for another year of having the opportunity to meet with such a wide audience from all aspects that are necessary for “the watt produced by a power plant to reach our home”.

“Unfortunately, we have witnessed many caretaker governments that think within a three-month mandate. When there is no parliament and this parliament does not pass the baton to the next and the next, it is very difficult to build a nuclear power plant. This is the biggest risk, because a nuclear power plant needs four regular cabinets with a permanent vision in order to have a national priority,” Manchev said.

He noted with satisfaction that to date “the political class from all sectors – left, right, which are in parliament – is in favor of the development of nuclear energy, despite all the problems that arise from this.”

“This is because the state has been wandering for about 20 years whether we will build or not, and we played the game “here there is, here there is not”. Thus, we lost a huge potential to train young people who could work today under Mr. Ivanov, or under the so-called. “Owner’s Engineer”, or in the case of Westinghouse and Hyundai. This project needs about 12,000 workers, of which 2,000 are engineering personnel. Of these, 1,000 are on the suppliers’ side, and about 350 are on the Owner’s Engineer side, which in turn must have at least 500 people to master the project,” said the Chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum.

“He also has the difficult task of sending people all over the world, especially to the United States, until this plant swells and starts sticking out above the ground, to study the technology – how this plant is operated and operated,” Bogomil Manchev added.

And he outlined further risks that come from the implementation of artificial intelligence, which could be the target of a hacker and terrorist attack aimed at taking control of a nuclear power plant.

“The new challenge is that the staff are faced with artificial intelligence that is entering the management. At the same time, this system must be isolated from all networks so that there is no terrorist attack. Some black hacker does not decide to stop the primary circuit circulation pumps for a while to burn the power plant and burn us all. These are complexities in the field of safety that must be resolved,” warned Bogomil Manchev.

According to him, as far as the attitude of society is concerned, it is present in our country because there is a lot of confidence in nuclear energy in Bulgaria. “It plays an extremely key role in times of crisis, when it supported the entire population with the funds that the plant earned,” the expert recalled.

And he pointed out the advantages of our nuclear power plant, giving a specific example from the recent past.

“Without naming names, a former prime minister wrote several times that the nuclear power plant would go bankrupt because we were going to modernize it. At that time, the modernization program for the fifth and sixth power units cost 400 million ECU – there were no euros yet. The plant not only did not go bankrupt, but returned the money itself and even extended its resource with its own funds. When a nuclear power plant is properly operated and well located in the energy system, it always wins, and it wins a lot,” said the Chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum.

Manchev listed what the project for the seventh and eighth reactors of Kozloduy NPP will bring in terms of economic benefits.

“For example, a project like the one for the seventh and eighth units at today’s prices will generate more than 100 billion euros in revenue for its lifetime. So, we need to optimize the cost and operational part, and most likely half of these funds will remain as profit. There are very few businesses that make such huge sums,” he said.

Manchev warned that it is not realistic to reduce the price of energy produced by the reactors, against the backdrop of inflation, which needs to be controlled.

“Today, we count their energy production – about 1.2 billion megawatt hours for their lifetime – at 100 euros. But the price, no matter how much we want to reduce it, cannot happen. There was such a case 70 years ago under Valko Chervenkov, but then the state went bankrupt. Prices can be adjusted, they can have a sustainable, long-term, but very small upward trend. However, there is no way to reduce it, because inflation raises everything we live in. That is why we need to regulate it,” the nuclear expert said.

It is the increase in the cost of a nuclear project that is among the big risks, according to him, because a nuclear power plant is built for at least a decade, and during this time prices change upwards.

“This is the other danger and the big risk we are talking about: the project is being built 12 or 15 years from the moment the decision is made on it. And you say: “I will do it for 10 billion”, but for these 15 years you have to put another 5 billion because of inflation, the increase in the cost of money, the risks you insure, and what not. And yet, it must be done because it is extremely important for the economy, for the backbone of the state and, last but not least, for its national security. This is also important,” Bogomil Manchev stressed.

“It would be nice for Bulgaria to wake up in 2051 with four operating nuclear units,” the chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum wished. He is adamant that in addition to the seventh and eighth units, we must also use the other site for the Belene NPP. And he outlined the ways in which this can be done in order to ensure energy continuity and security after the decommissioning of two of the reactors.

“The state can make a tender, choose a specific producer, maybe even the one we have already chosen to build the other two blocks there. But we need to have four new units, because we will decommission the fifth and sixth units. We need to have this foundation of our electricity system,” Manchev said.

In parallel, he added that both solar and wind farms should be developed at a full and rapid pace in order to fill the great need for energy.

“Because, as much as we want to avoid this scenario, we will convert a large amount of energy into a primary fuel called hydrogen. And huge quantities are required there to make the transport clean,” Manchev said.

“These are the other challenges, but first we need to make enough energy for people, to make it accessible and secure. For now, the nuclear power plant is doing just that. He works 8,000 hours a year. When it is well made and well operated, it works trouble-free and this gives exceptional stability to the energy system. Thank you,” summed up the chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum.

According to him, the state is already working on the issue of the necessary personnel for nuclear energy. “First of all is the Nuclear Regulatory Agency – they are the engine that drives this process. The Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Education and Science are also included, as well as the three large nuclear sites: the operating power plant, the new facilities and the State Enterprise for Radioactive Waste. Because we have to train personnel for the entire cycle of a power plant – from its creation to its closure. Years ago, we talked about making a “green playground” on the site of the first to fourth blocks, and now it has become “brown”. I never understood what made it brown, except that it is dangerous. “Green Playground” is another thing. This is a matter of terminology and a lot of money. In this regard, there is understanding and institutional movement in Bulgaria,” the nuclear expert commented.

But before all this moves in its course, first of all we need to have the projects, he stressed, adamant that they are the engine of everything else.

“If there is no seventh and eighth units and the state has not supported it, no matter how much we make people study, they will not go. Because a person, in order to enter higher education, to graduate in five years and go to the nuclear power plant, only to find out that he has a diploma, but he has to study for another five years… After that, he should know that he can work for at least another 30 or 40 years there. This object lives so long. Only then does he see a perspective,” Manchev took an example out of reality.

“Exactly the same applies to the electricity industry, to the transmission network, which is being modernized, and to the electricity distribution companies. They begin to become the bottleneck, which is access to the end customer. Because we are talking here about a lot of money that the state will guarantee, but in the end we, the people, pay everything. In our bill at the bottom it says: 5% for joining, 3% for I don’t know what, and in the end you see that these fees are 30% of the total amount,” the expert commented.

And he expressed his agreement with what was said by the Executive Director of Kozloduy NPP Petyo Ivanov.

“So here Mr. Ivanov is absolutely right – the better they manage to come to an agreement now, the smaller will be the number that will be written on the piece of paper. And for many years to come. It is no coincidence that I started by saying that we are talking about something that lives for 100 years, including the ten years of decommissioning,” he commented.

Manchev reminded that modern third-generation reactors have the ability to operate for up to 80 years.

“They are embedded in the structure of their metal, with the so-called “cold brittleness”. These blocks have a lifespan of 120 years.

I say this because some people talk a lot about how the units for the Belene NPP were outdated. I say to myself, what exactly are they obsolete from, I didn’t understand?! I am getting old because I live, and that equipment is sitting there passively. It is fit – 120 years of life,” Manchev said.

He pointed out that the same is the case with the equipment for the seventh and eighth units, which also has a technological life of 120 years. It is a completely different matter if mistakes are made during operation, and it has nothing to do with the longevity of steel. “There are measures that can be taken into account. But the main driver is the projects,” summed up the chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Forum.

Source:dir.bg