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Date: 20/02/03
By David Cronin
THE question of how to deal with nuclear plants in EU candidate countries has proved a political hot potato.
- Kozloduy: last month Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court overruled a deal between the country's government and the European Commission on shutting two Soviet-era reactors in the Kozloduy complex by 2006. According to the court, that agreement ignored a vote in the national parliament, declaring the reactors (known as Units Three and Four) should remain operating until Bulgaria joins the Union, which will be in 2007 at the earliest. Sofia is appealing the verdict. The reactors are of the same type found at Chernobyl in Ukraine, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in April 1986.
- Ignalina: back in 1995, the US Department of Energy listed this Lithuanian power station as one of the four most dangerous plants in central and eastern Europe. (The others were Kozloduy, Chernobyl and Kola in Russia). Under EU pressure, Vilnius has committed to close the first two reactors in Ignalina by 2005 and the second by 2009. The Union offered an extra €30 million towards the decommissioning costs in December, bringing the total amount committed to some €500 million.
- Temelin: this Bohemian plant has caused relations between the Czech Republic and neighbouring Austria to be more than a little prickly. Vienna had been seeking Temelin's closure as a condition of EU entry but softened its stance in 2001, when the so-called Melk accord set down new safety measures to be implemented.
- Bohunice: Washington has also warned of the risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster in Slovakia's Bohunice.
Bratislava has pledged to cease operating two of its reactors by 2008.
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