Brussels: BNP-Paribas, Stop funding nuclear power!
Friends of the Earth - 05.06.2007 16:35
BNP-Paribas, Stop funding nuclear power!
Europe-wide protests against bank's funding for dangerous Belene nuclear plant
Brussels 5th June - In Brussels today and in over 20 cities across Europe, protests by environmental groups intensified pressure on BNP Paribas to withdraw its funding of the controversial Belene Buglarian nuclear power plant.
Meer photos (credit FoEEurope/Lode Sadaine): www.foeeurope.org
Brussels 5th June - In Brussels today and in over 20 cities across Europe, protests by environmental groups intensified pressure on BNP Paribas to withdraw its funding of the controversial Belene Buglarian nuclear power plant.
Daniel Meijers, Anti-nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe, said:
"It is completely irresponsible of BNP Paribas to fund the Belene nuclear power plant in Bulgaria. The site is at high risk of earthquakes and the reactors haven't even been properly tested. Investment in Belene could be investment in the next Chernobyl disaster."
The Belene Nuclear Power Plant is situated in northern Bulgaria, close to the Romanian border in an area at high risk of earthquakes. During the last large earthquake in 1977, 120 people died just 14 km from the project site.
The nuclear project was abandoned in the 1990s following a scientific assessment that warned that the area was not suitable for a nuclear reactor. The Bulgarian Cabinet deemed Belene to be "technically unsafe and economically not viable". However, the Bulgarian government reversed this decision, announcing in 2003 that they would restart the project. [1]
The specific reactors planned are of a Russian design which has not been through full safety testing and has never before been built in Europe.
On 14 May this year, BNP Paribas won the tender for a 250 million Euro loan to the Bulgarian electricity company NEK, to finance the first stage of planning and construction of Belene. [2] Eleven other international banks have refused to finance the project, including UniCredit, Deutsche Bank [3], KBC, Commerzbank, Societe General, Citibank and Credit Suisse.
Today a representative of the Brussels BNP Paribas office was presented with a letter demanding that BNP Paribas withdraws all investment and capital from the Belene project. [4]
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For more information, please contact:
Daniel Meijers, Anti-nuclear campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe: Mobile: +32 497 451982,
email:  daniel.meijers@foeeurope.org (Languages: English, Dutch)
Inez Louwagie, Campaigner at Netwerk Vlaanderen: Mobile: +32 498 682 940; email:
inez.louwagie@netwerk-vlaanderen.be (Languages: English, Dutch)
Rosemary Hall, Communications Officer at Friends of the Earth Europe: Mobile: +32 485 930515,
email: rosemary.hall@foeeurope.org (Languages: English)
NOTES
[1] Timeline of events:  http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/2007/Belene.chronology.pdf
[2] http://news.dnevnik.bg/?y=2007&m=5&d=15
http://www.iii.co.uk/news/?type=afxnews&articleid=6104484&subject=companies&action=article
In an official response, BNP Paribas has confirmed its 250 million Euro loan to NEK, and has confirmed that it will consider further financing of Belene's construction in the future.
[3] http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2006/joint_20_Oct_Bulgaria_nuclear_plant.htm
[4] http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/2007/NGO_Letter_BNP_Paribas_050607.pdf
Friends of the Earth Europe campaigns for sustainable and fair societies and for the protection of the environment,
unites more than 30 national organisations with thousands of local groups
and is part of the world's largest grassroots environmental network, Friends of the Earth International.
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