Jan 26 (Reuters) - Central and southeastern European
countries are looking to build or expand nuclear power plants to
keep up electricity supplies while cutting reliance on
coal-fired electricity.
But cash shortages and market uncertainty have made
investors more cautious, prompting delays in nuclear power plans
across the region. For a story on delays see [].
Below are some of the nuclear plants being built or planned
across central and eastern Europe:
ALBANIA - Government said in 2008 it wanted to develop
nuclear power generation and was ready to invite Italian
companies to build plants.
BULGARIA - Plans to build two 1,000-megawatt reactors at its
Belene plant. The project was put on hold in 2009 after German
utility RWE <RWEG.DE> withdrew from the project.
Russia has offered to finance part of the units, but
Bulgaria is still considering its options. Its attempts to
attract western interest for Belene have been largely
unsuccessful.
Officials said late last year Sofia expects a strategic
foreign investor to join Belene in the next few months and
argued that the funds Bulgaria has invested so far should secure
it a 20 percent stake. []
CROATIA - Co-owns with Slovenia the border Krsko nuclear
power plant. The government plans to either build a new block
with Slovenia, partner Hungary at a new project at their Paks
plant or build a unit on Croation soil, but a final decision is
unlikely before 2012. []
CZECH REPUBLIC - Czech utility CEZ postponed a tender to add
two more units at its Temelin nuclear power plant in 2010 due to
uncertainty in power markets. The tender is now expected to last
until 2013, representing a one to two-year delay. []
HUNGARY - The government agreed in April 2009 to allow
preparations for building another unit at the Paks nuclear plant
to begin. It could take over 11 years to build. []
Paks' existing reactors supply about a third of Hungary's
electricity.
LITHUANIA
Vilnius has initially planned to build a new plant together
with fellow Baltic states Latvia and Estonia by 2015, but moved
the deadline to 2018-2020 after talks with regional partners
dragged on.
In December, President Dalia Grybauskaite said Lithuania
should pause in its nuclear drive and rethink its alternatives
after a tender failed to attract investors. []
POLAND - The government wants its leading utility PGE
<PGEP.WA> to build two nuclear power plants of a total of 6,000
MW, the first by 2022, to break its reliance on coal for energy.
The project already has been delayed once from 2020 due to
technological concerns and further delays are likely.
[]
ROMANIA - Power groups GDF Suez <GSZ.PA>,
Iberdrola <IBE.MC> and RWE <RWEG.DE> withdrew earlier this month
from a partnership with Romania to build two 720 megawatt
reactors at its sole nuclear power plant in Cernavoda by 2017,
following Czech CEZ <> which withdrew last year.
Romania now faces a heavier financial burden. It still has
two remaining foreign firms in the project, Italy's Enel
<ENEI.MI> and a local unit of ArcelorMittal <ISPA.AS> and will
seek new partners. []
SLOVAKIA - Two 470 MW units being built at Mochovce and
expected to operate from 2012-2013 in a project led by Enel
<ENEI.MI> unit Slovenske Elektrarne. []
[]
SLOVENIA - State-owned energy firm Gen Energija expects to
build its second nuclear power plant by 2020 but the government
has yet to approve the plan. The decision was initially expected
in 2010.
TURKEY - Turkey wants to launch its nuclear power industry
in 2013 -- up from an initial 2012 estimate -- with a $20
billion plant to be built on the Mediterranean by Russian firms.
It then wants to build two more facilities, one in the Black
Sea coastal town of Sinop, targeted to start operations in 2019.
Turkey agreed in December to hold exclusive talks for three
months with Japan.
France's EDF <EDF.PA> has also expressed interest in
building the plant. [] []
(Compiled by Luiza Ilie in Bucharest, Maja Zuvela in
Sarajevo, Martin Santa in Bratislava, Tsvetelia Tsolova in
Sofia, Marja Novak in Ljubljana; Editing by William Hardy )
