The development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria, Romania and Sweden

The Bulgarian government will speed up the conclusion of a contract for the supply of non-Russian nuclear fuel to the two Soviet reactors at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. The fuel has so far been supplied exclusively by the Russians. The French company – Framatome is currently working to remove Russian technology from the plant. The first delivery of non-Russian fuel will take place by April 2024 at the latest, and the deal must be completely independent of Russian suppliers. The Kozloduy power station generates about ⅓ of the country’s electricity.

According to Romanian authorities, the United States will provide more than US$3 billion for the construction of two reactors at the Cernavodă nuclear power plant starting in 2023. The financing, about ⅓ of the amount needed, will be provided by the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), the government’s export credit agency. The Cernavodă plant is Romania’s only nuclear power plant and was built using Canadian technology. It provides about ⅕ of the country’s electricity.

German energy company Uniper, which will become wholly state-owned from 2023, will not build a new nuclear power plant in Sweden, contrary to plans by its Swedish subsidiary Barsebäck Kraft. Uniper co-owns all three active nuclear power plants in Sweden, Oskarshamn, Ringhals and Forsmark, as well as the Barsebäck nuclear power plant, which is in the winding down process. Meanwhile, the Swedish governing coalition will allocate EUR 36 billion to plan the construction of new nuclear power plants by local conglomerate Vattenfall AB.