Country: Bulgaria
Plant: Kozloduy
When the U.S. Department of Energy ranked the most dangerous nuclear power plants in the former Soviet bloc in a classified 1995 report, two of the reactors in Bulgaria's Kozloduy complex made the top 10. The risks posed by the plant's aging Soviet technology were compounded by Bulgaria's somewhat desperate circumstances: "Rolling blackouts, mostly during winter months, have plagued Bulgaria since 1984," the report authors wrote. "Often, for every three hours with electricity there is one hour without. This power shortage has resulted in severe demand-side pressure to operate Kozloduy whatever the risk."
The two iffiest reactors were shut down in 2004, and two of the remaining four were scheduled to be mothballed as a condition of Bulgaria's entrance into the European Union -- much to the discontent of Bulgarians. (Lithuania, whose Soviet-era reactors were also on the Energy Department's danger list, had to make similar concessions.) President Georgi Parvanov called for the Europeans to reconsider after the Russia-Ukraine natural gas dispute of early 2009 cut off Bulgaria's gas imports in the depth of winter, but to no avail. So instead of reopening the old reactors, Bulgaria is building newer -- and ostensibly safer -- ones at the facility with the help of Russian national atomic energy firm Rosatom; groundbreaking on the first is scheduled for September, and there are no post-Fukushima plans to reconsider construction of the plant.
DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/Getty Images
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