Nuclear closure

• Two of Bulgaria’s four working nuclear reactors were shut down on 31 December, as a final step towards EU membership. The closure of the units at Kozloduy was a prerequisite of membership following safety fears over the 1980s nuclear power plant. The loss of its reactors means Bulgaria will no longer have energy to export. Bulgaria’s European Commissioner Meglena Kuneva on 3 January said she would ask the EU to consider reopening the reactors, which Bulgaria says are now safe.

Controversial proposals on the regulation of ‘advanced therapies’ - tissue engineering used to build skin, bone and cartilage from human cells - will return to the European Parliament’s environment committee on 22 January.