Once, Bulgaria was Europe’s fourth biggest producer of uranium and among the eight world countries with own raw material for its nuclear power plant. The first Soviet nuclear bomb was made with Bulgarian uranium. Why do we talk in the past tense? This is so, because in 1992 this sector of the national economy was destroyed. Today, twenty two years later, the Bulgarian government wants to restart the extraction of uranium by end 2014. The reasons: there is a huge investors’ interest shown by world-famous companies and also because “the nuclear power engineering is gaining momentum across the globe and the number of foreign companies which are interested in the Bulgarian uranium deposits has been constantly growing”, contended several days ago Bulgaria’s Minister of Economy and Energy Dragomir Stoynev. Thus, the topic regarding uranium extraction has again entered the agenda of the Bulgarian society.

In fact, eight years ago the former Energy Minister was also trying to persuade the public that uranium output was in favor of the Bulgarian economy. At that time the nuclear power engineering was looming across the globe, the prices of uranium were skyrocketing and the mining companies were searching for new mineral deposits. Back then and now, the Canadian Cameco and Russian TVEL Corporation were and still are the leading companies for uranium extraction. The Canadian company extracts the raw material and sends it for processing to the Russians who supply the current nuclear power plant and could supply the possible second NPP with nuclear fuel. Thus, the estimated electricity price from the second Belene NPP will be reduced and the fuel supplies to the first nuclear power plant in Kozloduy will become cheaper by 2020.

How the state will actually restart the uranium extraction, as none of all forty eight uranium mines in this country have been functioning over the past twenty two years? According to estimates, Bulgaria’s uranium deposits amount to some 20,000 tons which can secure nuclear fuel to the Kozloduy NPP for the next twenty years. However, the country needs to invest some USD 1.5 billion, in order to revive the uranium extraction.

Thirty two Bulgarian and foreign companies showed interest to extract uranium in this country. Yes, the local nuclear power engineering would be less dependant and cheaper, if Bulgaria had its own uranium output. But why then Bulgaria stopped its extraction in the past, since it has nuclear facilities which use uranium fuel and why it wasted some EUR 25 million to close the mines and re-cultivate the land around the uranium mines?

The Germans were the first ones to start extracting uranium in Bulgaria back in 1938. However, they abandoned this business only one year later. After the end of the WW2, the uranium extraction was renewed under the influence of the Soviet authorities. The uranium output was described as strategic and the export was directed entirely to the Soviet Union. No one knows how much raw material was exported to this destination and how many Soviet nuclear bombs were made with Bulgarian uranium. Experts say that the first Soviet nuclear bomb was manufactured with Bulgarian uranium extracted from the Buhovo deposit near Sofia which was previously exploited by the Germans. Bulgaria used to export raw material in strictly guarded containers and was receiving in return uranium fuel for its nuclear power plant. Bulgaria was paying Russia for the uranium processing with raw material until 1992.

Bulgaria is among the few world countries with own nuclear power plant and uranium deposits. Only twenty five countries extract this mineral and thirty are currently using uranium. There are one hundred forty three nuclear power plants in Europe, but only several use own uranium. Over 30% of the electricity in Bulgaria, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland is produced from uranium, show data of the World Nuclear Association.

In other words, the idea for resuming the uranium extraction in Bulgaria should be very well considered. On one hand, this extraction poses threats over the environment. On the other hand, the uranium extraction means local fuel for the nuclear power plant and huge investments. Next month Bulgarian scientists are expected to find an answer regarding the risks and the opportunities for uranium extraction at a special forum.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov