After a decades-long moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants, officials in Serbia began advocating a switch to nuclear energy.
As announced by the Directorate for Radiation and Nuclear Safety, on October 26 and 27, Serbia will participate in an international exercise in which an accident at the Baraka nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates will be simulated.
The goal of the exercise, which is organized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Arab Emirates, is to check the response of the participating countries to a nuclear or radiological accident, that is, to take actions to prevent the adverse consequences of an unwanted event.
A moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants has been in force in Serbia since 1989 after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the former Soviet Union, today's Ukraine.
However, with the obligations that the country has taken on as part of the Green Agenda on its way to Europe, which include switching from coal to cleaner energy sources, some in Serbia see nuclear energy as a solution.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić stated in a statement on October 23 that Serbia is ready to build a nuclear power plant in Paks (Paks) in Hungary and that he has already discussed this with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
"We are ready to be a minority owner, in order to ensure our energy security, especially because of our strength in economic activity," Vučić said in Belgrade after a meeting with the Serbian member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Milorad Dodik.
All the controversies of the Hungarian Paks
The first contract on the Paks nuclear power plant was signed in 1966 by Hungary and the Soviet Union. The project was delayed a lot due to technological and financial problems, construction began in 1969, and the power plant began operating 13 years later, in 1982.
The Paksh nuclear power plant currently operates with four Soviet reactors of 500 MW each, providing approximately half of domestic electricity production. The life of the reactors should end in the 2030s, although they could probably be extended for another 10 years.
The contract on the expansion of the nuclear power plant was unexpectedly announced and signed in January 2014 in Novo-Ogarjevo, Russia. According to the agreement, the State Corporation of Russia for Atomic Energy (ROSATOM) will build two 1.200 MW reactors in Paksh, worth around 12 billion euros, without a tender.
The project is financed mostly from loans from Russia, in the amount of 10 billion euros, with an interest rate of four to five percent with a maturity of 21 years. The rest will be financed by Hungary.
The agreement caused serious alarm in Hungary, a member of the European Union (EU), for several reasons.
On the one hand, due to the lack of social discussion before signing the agreement and the absence of a tender, and on the other hand, due to questionable profitability. According to estimates, the project will pay off only if the price of electricity in the coming decades is twice as high as that which Hungary had in the previous 20 years.
There are also environmental and security concerns, including concerns about nuclear waste, which under the agreement Russia will only store for 20 years.
The expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant will further hinder Hungary's commitment to the production of energy from renewable sources. That is, similar reactor technology will not be present in any other EU country.
Although a similar nuclear power plant exists in Belarus, there are serious safety concerns there as well.
The project is progressing slowly and is already behind schedule. The first deliveries were planned for 2023. That deadline was moved to 2030. In October of this year, the National Atomic Energy Agency (NAEA) rejected the request for licensing of new reactors for safety reasons.
Due to its non-transparency, the project is accompanied by a high risk of corruption.
Most of the construction and preparatory works to date have been awarded to companies closely connected to the Hungarian government. In addition, this project significantly strengthened Hungarian-Russian interstate relations.
Despite EU sanctions against Russia since 2014 due to Russia's annexation of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Vikto Orban are intensifying cooperation between the two countries. They hold regular meetings every year, and in the meantime, Russian influence in Hungary is gradually strengthening.
Director of Belgrade Power Stations for lifting the moratorium
One of the first to present the subject of the construction of a nuclear power plant in Serbia in public was the director of the Public Utility Company "Belgrade Power Plant" Rade Basta.
In an open letter dated October 13, he advocated the lifting of the moratorium and called on large American and European energy companies and funds to invest in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Serbia.
"Nuclear power plants are a stable and reliable source of energy. There are 106 nuclear reactors operating in EU member states that provide 104 gigawatts of electrical power, which is 26 percent of the total electricity produced in the EU," explained Basta in a written reply to Radio Free Europe (RSE).
He sees the construction of a nuclear power plant in Serbia as a temporary solution until the goals outlined in the Green Agenda are achieved, bearing in mind, as he says, that the transition to cleaner forms of electricity production (hydro, solar and wind parks) will take decades.
"Therefore, I am sure that the interim solution is... the lifting of the moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants and their construction as an acceptable transition to new technologies and avoiding the construction of new blocks of coal-fired thermal power plants that would cost Serbia a lot in the form of new taxes by the EU, which are scheduled to closing the plant", said Basta.
Energy balance between east and west
The construction of a nuclear power plant is a huge undertaking that requires complex technology and an extremely large capital investment, he explained to RSE.
"Smaller countries such as the Republic of Serbia can hardly have enough funds or arrange credit to implement such a project on their own," says Basta.
He points out that for this reason, Serbia needs the help of companies from some of the countries with a developed nuclear industry.
"A new competition between the great powers is flaring up in the Balkans, this time regarding the construction of nuclear power plants, which further complicates the problems these countries are already facing," says the director of Belgrade Electric Power.
When asked why he sent the invitation to American and European energy companies, and not to companies from Russia and China, countries that have been strengthening their influence in Serbia in recent years, Basta states that the reason for this is the provision of energy, but also political balance.
"I believe that the presence of the Russian Federation in the energy sector of the Republic of Serbia is very large, as well as that of the People's Republic of China in the construction of infrastructure, and that due to the necessary balance in international relations, the Republic of Serbia, as a neutral and independent country that aspires to join the EU, should invite American and European companies to participate in such a project in order to ensure energy security and stability", says Basta.
Serbia is completely dependent on Russian gas, and data from the Energy Community, the EU's regulatory body, show that with the new gas pipeline connecting the country to Turkish Stream, dependence on Russia has further increased.
"Many European countries depend on the import of Russian gas. In this way, it controls prices and increases its influence in the states. Outside of gas pipelines, Russian companies managed to break into the energy markets and gain influence or control over electricity generation, through refineries, gasoline sales (in the Republic of Serbia, NIS and Gastrans are majority-owned by the Russian company Gazprom), but also through construction projects of nuclear power plants", says Basta.
When it comes to China, he points to the potential risks of possible cooperation between Serbia and that country in the construction of a nuclear power plant.
"They resent the fact that they realize their projects either through state companies or by subsidizing domestic companies, credit debts, because in that way they disrupt fair market competition and the conditions to fulfill their goals, which are more geostrategic than economic in nature. Another objection concerns the potential proliferation of nuclear weapons," explains Basta.
He adds that the United States of America (USA) has developed a reactor that uses low-enriched uranium, which, he says, "significantly reduces the danger of its potential use for the production of weapons and destruction, while China and Russia use reactors that operate on highly enriched uranium."
"In this way, the experts present that Chinese and Russian activities do not contribute to non-proliferation, and therefore not to peace in the world," concludes Basta.
On the occasion of the invitation of the director of the Belgrade power plants, RSE contacted the US Embassy, where they stated that there were no concrete discussions about potential investments in nuclear power plants.
The embassies of Russia and China in Belgrade did not respond to RFE's inquiry as to whether those countries are interested in investing in the construction of a nuclear power plant in Serbia and whether there were discussions with Serbian officials about this.
What are nuclear power plants?
Unlike thermal power plants, which use coal to produce electricity, nuclear power plants use heat from a chemical reaction inside a nuclear reactor as an energy source.
Instead of coal, radioactive uranium and plutonium are used, which are converted into electricity in a controlled chain reaction.
The heat obtained by splitting uranium and plutonium atoms is converted into mechanical energy in turbines. The turbine then drives a generator where mechanical energy is converted into electricity.
Competent Ministry: We have not been approached by any company
The Ministry of Mining and Energy stated in a written response to RFE/RL that a lot has changed since the period more than 25 years ago when the moratorium was established.
However, as they state, there is currently no interest from foreign countries and companies in building a nuclear power plant in Serbia.
"The Ministry of Mining and Energy has not been approached by any company interested in the construction of nuclear power plants," he stated in a written response submitted to RSE.
The main goal of the ministry is to provide energy security and a stable supply of energy and energy products "at sustainable prices, with minimal impact on the environment."
They point out that for the possible use of nuclear energy in Serbia, in addition to the legal ones, additional preconditions are needed.
"The fact is, however, that when it comes to nuclear energy, in addition to the legal ones, there are other important prerequisites (including, among other things, the availability of professional staff for that area) that should be fulfilled in order to be able to make different decisions about to this issue", the ministry states.
Legal framework
The law prohibiting the construction of nuclear power plants was adopted in 1989 by the then Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, after the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, the consequences of which are still felt on the European continent today.
The moratorium was transferred into its legislative framework by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 2005. The moratorium is still in effect.
In December 2018, the members of the Serbian Parliament adopted the Law on Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security, which established the Directorate for Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Security of Serbia, whose Management Board is chaired by Maja Gojković, the current Minister of Culture and Information in the Government of Serbia.
So far, Serbia has only signed international agreements on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy with the Russian Federation.
In May 2018, Nenad Popović, the minister without portfolio in the Government of Serbia in charge of innovation and technological development, signed in Sochi, Russia, on behalf of the Government of Serbia, an agreement on cooperation with the State Corporation of Russia for Atomic Energy (ROSATOM) in the development of innovations and new technologies in the field of application nuclear energy for peacetime purposes.
The cooperation, as announced by the minister's office, relates primarily to the field of medicine (oncology) and agriculture.
Vice President of ROSATOM for Central Europe Vadim Titov said then that the use of atomic energy does not mean only the construction of nuclear power plants.
In January 2019, as part of the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Serbia, the Government of Serbia and the Government of Russia signed an Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peacetime Purposes.
Until the publication of this text, Minister Popović's office did not respond to RFE's inquiry as to whether there had been discussions with Russian and Chinese officials or companies about the construction of a nuclear power plant in Serbia.
Serbia's dependence on coal and the Green Agenda
According to the data of the Energy Agency of Serbia, the domestic regulatory body, in the field of energy, Serbia is largely dependent on coal.
In 2020, almost 70 percent of the total electricity produced (68,7 percent) came from coal-fired thermal power plants.
In the past five years, the agency's Annual Report for 2020 shows, the dependence on coal in the production of electricity in Serbia has increased from 56,1 percent in 2016 to the current almost 70 percent.
By signing the Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans in November 2020 in Sofia, Bulgaria, on behalf of the Government of Serbia, Prime Minister Ana Brnabić undertook to completely phase out coal by 2050.
According to a 2021 report by the Prague-based NGO network Bankwatch, total sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants in Serbia in 2019 were 5,6 times higher than allowed.
Nuclear energy divided the EU
And while the EU is facing an energy crisis, due to the rise in energy prices, the issue of further investment in nuclear power plants has divided the members of the bloc.
Ten EU members, led by France, have asked Brussels to allow greater use of nuclear energy by classifying investments in it as green investments, while the energy crisis and rising gas prices shake the Union.
On the other hand, the bloc led by Germany strongly opposes the initiative, expressing concern about the safety of atomic energy.
Germany wants to shut down all its nuclear power plants by 2022, ever since the Fukushima crisis in Japan in 2011, when an earthquake and later tsunami destroyed cooling systems at a nuclear power plant on Japan's northeast coast. Radioactive material then leaked, and the accident was characterized as the worst since the Chernobyl disaster.
Countries without nuclear energy, such as Austria, Ireland and Italy, are on Germany's side.
French President Emmanuel Macron (Emmanuel Macron) said in a statement on October 12 that France will invest one billion euros in nuclear energy by the end of this decade, as the European energy crisis has renewed interest in this source of energy.
"In order to win the climate battle, we need nuclear energy," states the statement, which, in addition to France, was signed by representatives of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Slovenia. In the immediate neighborhood of Serbia, Romania and Bulgaria (two each) and Hungary (four) have nuclear power plants.
The "Krško" nuclear power plant is also active in Slovenia, as the only country in the former Yugoslavia that uses nuclear energy to produce electricity.
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