NATO bombing threatens Bulgaria nuclear plant

NATO's air campaign against Serbia could cause an accident four times greater than Chernobyl at Bulgaria's Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant

May 26, 1999
Web posted at: 5:00 PM EDT

A nuclear power plant in Kozloduy, Bulgaria, located about 60 miles from the Yugoslav border, is endangered by the NATO air campaign against Serbia, according to Bulgarian environmentalists who have called for the immediate shutdown of the plant.

The power plant is threatened by oil spills which have polluted the Danube River, by the military aircraft flying over the plant and by terrorist attacks due to its weak security system, the environmentalists report.

"The oil and toxic chemicals released into the Danube are directly affecting people's drinking water and food supply," said Ralitsa Panayotova from Za Zemiana, a Bulgarian environmental organization. "They are also indirectly responsible for elevating the risk of a severe accident at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant."

The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is situated on the banks of the Danube River, and six of its pressurized water nuclear reactors utilize water from the river for their cooling systems. Oil slicks have been released as a result of the bombing, greatly endangering proper operation of the water pump stations.

No serious concern has been shown about the security of the nuclear plant, and last week environmentalists from Za Zemiata, with several journalists, came as close as 65 feet to the water pump stations.

A Bulgarian scientist warned several months prior to the NATO air campaign that a major earthquake in the vicinity of the reactor would leave the spent fuel pools next to the reactors without cooling water, resulting in the emission of radioactivity that could be four times greater than that from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.

Environmentalists from Za Zemiata said that a terrorist attack or an aircraft crash at the plant would produce similar results.

Four of the reactors at Kozloduy are old Russian reactors with no containment system and no protection against air force accidents. "Last week we stood beside the nuclear plant for 15 minutes," said Polina Kireva, an activist from Za Zemiata, "during which time we saw seven airplanes, definitely not civilian ones, flying straight over the nuclear power plant. Local people told us that the planes fly all night long."

According to the group, this means that the 18-mile no-fly zone around Kozloduy is being violated by NATO airplanes and has greatly increased the risk of a rocket missile accident that would affect not just Bulgaria but all of Europe.

Last week some 20 environmental groups from all over the world sent Bulgarian President Peter Stoianov and Prime Minister Ivan Kostov letters requesting that Bulgaria immediately shut down Kozloduy.

"If one thing could affect the whole continent as a consequence of the war, it would be an accident at Kozloduy," said Panayotova.

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