(18 Dec 2006)
1. Wide of Kozloduy sign in front of nuclear plant
2. Wide road approaching power plant
3. Pan across power plant buildings
4. Wide shot of sign on building reading (in Bulgarian) "First atomic power plant"
5. Vehicle entering plant
6. Set up shots of Kiril Nikolov, the plant's director
7. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Kiril Nikolov, director of Kozloduy nuclear power plant:
"We are planning to shut down two units and stop exporting power as of December 31st, under plans by EU officials and Bulgarian officials. At the moment we are still producing power and exporting it at the same time. The third and fourth units (the reactors scheduled to be taken offline) each produce some 450 megawatts, the fifth and sixth units provide 1000 megawatts."
8. Pan across plan of Kozloduy plant
9. SOUNDBITE (Bulgarian) Kiril Nikolov, director of Kozloduy nuclear power plant:
"I cannot believe it and don't understand why they are not trying to find solutions instead of shutting the reactors down. The information they have based their plans on is 15 years old and they do not want to know that things have changed. It's not only Bulgaria losing out, but Europe as well. The whole region will suffer and the EU should provide compensation for that. Now Bulgaria is in Europe, Europe should benefit from it. We have power for the whole region and more, and now it will make everyone suffer. For me this is unacceptable and I do not understand it at all. I don't agree with the plan."
10. Pan of control room for the units due to be closed
11. Mid shot of worker in control room
12. Close up of board reading 224 and 245 MWe (megawatts of electricity) the current power production
13. Focus pull from gauges to man working in control room
14. Various of equipment and people working in the control room
15. Various of reactors due to be closed down and people at work
STORYLINE:
The stability of energy supplies in the Balkans could be threatened by Bulgarian plans to slash electricity exports next year due to European Union requirements to close two of the country's nuclear units.
As Bulgaria makes its final preparations to join the EU, the only nuclear plant in Bulgaria, Kozloduy, which is around 200 kilometres north of the capital Sofia, will shut down two of its reactors on December 31, as part of Bulgaria's entry agreement to the European Union, which it is to join on January 1.
The Kozloduy plant's reactors generate a total output of 3760 megawatts of electricity at present and single-handedly provide Bulgaria with 44 percent of its electricity demands. They had allowed the country to export about 20 percent of its electricity abroad.
Under a 1993 agreement between the European Commission and the Bulgarian government, two reactors were taken offline at the end of 2002 and as of March 2006 Bulgaria exported around 14 percent of its electricity.
Now the plant warns that it may completely stop electricity exports in 2007 when two more units are closed.
"We are planning to shut down, two units and stop exporting power as of December 31st, under plans by EU officials and Bulgarian officials", said Kiril Nikolov, the plant's director.
Bulgaria is the biggest electricity exporter in the Balkans, providing its neighbours and other Balkan countries with more than 7 million (m) megawatt-hours of electricity per year.
Bulgaria's Economic and Energy Minister has confirmed the threat to energy exports and blamed the issue on the European Union's demands.
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