Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) report
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In respect to ensuring the country's energy balance, the BAS report from 2017 notes that:
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Regardless of the planned actions to ensure the longest possible operation of the power plants of the Maritza-East complex, after 2030-2035 there will be a shortage of capacity.
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In most scenarios, the projected shortage of electricity in the region after 2030 leads to the need of installed base capacity in a range of 1500 MW.
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The general conclusion from the complex analysis of the capacities in the country and the region shows the need for new base capacities in a range of 2000 MW, which can also be nuclear.
Regarding the assets of Belene NPP, according to the report, the most unfavorable option is not to take any actions for their utilization, stating that there are two main approaches for use of the assets of Belene NPP: sale of the asset; or completion of the project through involvement of a strategic investor.
According to the report, the experience gained so far and further studies on the first option suggest that there is no market for such equipment or that it is limited to one buyer.
Therefore, this option can be realized at a significant loss due to the fact that:
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The reactors are manufactured according to technical specifications, which are tailored to the requirements of the Belene NPP site.
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The manufacturer of the reactors is also a designer and potential builder of the plant, which makes it the only potential buyer of the manufactured equipment.
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The current practice shows that the sale of previous equipment of Belene NPP was realized at a much lower price, and the attempts to sell the current equipment were not successful.
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The sale of the assets for scrap is possible, but the price that would be achieved in such a deal will be negligible.
Due to the listed arguments, the option for sale of the assets remains as a last resort, if a strategic investor is not found and the state abandons their implementation on Belene site or Kozloduy site.