Greenpeace activists urged Bulgaria on Thursday to halt a project to build a second nuclear plant on the Danube River and instead opt for renewable energy sources, the environmental organization said.
SOFIA, Bulgaria — Greenpeace activists urged Bulgaria on Thursday to halt a project to build a second nuclear plant on the Danube River and instead opt for renewable energy sources, the environmental organization said.
The Balkan country, with one nuclear plant in the Danube town of Kozlodui, has also launched a euro2 billion (US$2.46 billion) tender to build a second plant in Belene.
Two consortiums -- one led by the Czech Skoda company and another by Russia's Atomstroyexport -- have submitted bids in the Belene project, and the winner was expected to be chosen by year-end.
Amsterdam, Netherlands-based Greenpeace International, however, urged Bulgaria to review renewable energy alternatives.
"Bulgaria's Energy Ministry is rather tightly bound with nuclear energy, which makes it blind to the country's opportunities for real energy independence," Greenpeace activist Jan Havercamp told reporters in the western Danube port town of Vidin. "An environment-friendly alternative exists."
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Greenpeace believes safe nuclear power is a myth and the disposal of radioactive nuclear waste has led to severe environmental and health problems around the world, according to the group's Web site.
The Energy Ministry rejected the environmentalists' calls, saying in a statement that "nuclear energy development ... guarantees not only the protection of the environment, but also stability in southeastern Europe, where Bulgaria is the main electricity exporter."
Havercamp and other Greenpeace activists arrived in Vidin on board a Greenpeace ship sailing down the Danube to promote the group's ideology that would exchange fossil fuels and nuclear energy for other sources like wind and solar energy.
The Greenpeace ship left from Poland in May and has visited 10 countries so far. It is also scheduled to cross the Black Sea and the Mediterranean to reach Egypt in October.
Source: Associated Press
