EU offers more funds to dismantle aging n-plants

The European Union (EU) has offered Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania additional funding to dismantle their nuclear power facilities, reported the Sofia News Agency.

Bulgaria received an additional EU commitment of 260 million euros for the closure of four units at the country's Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant as a draft 2014-2020 EU budget was presented by EU council president Herman van Rompuy.

The Kozloduy plant, in operation since 1974, has raised safety concerns, and the country agreed to shut four of its units as a condition of joining the EU in 2007.

The EU had initially proposed 185 million euros for the four units but it needed a total of 450 million, the report said.

Lithuania is to get 400 million euros for its Ignalina nuclear plant, up from 210 million in an earlier proposal, while Slovakia will get 200 million for Bohunice, up from 105 million.

EU assistance aims to make the decommissioning irreversible and eliminate a major source of radiological hazard.