site.btaUPDATED Kozloduy NPP Celebrates 50 Years since Commissioning of Its First Unit

On Wednesday, the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) celebrated the 50th anniversary of the commissioning of its Unit 1.

The plant was inaugurated on September 4, 1974, by Communist leader Todor Zhivkov. Bulgaria thus became the first country in Southeast Europe and one of the first in the world to adopt nuclear technology for electricity production.

The capacities of the Kozloduy NPP became operational in three stages. During the first stage, Unit 1(July 24, 1974) and Unit 2(September 27, 1975) were put into operation.

During the second stage, Unit 3 (December 17, 1980) and Unit 4 (May 17, 1982) were put into operation, followed by Unit 5 (November 29, 1988) and Unit 6 (September 8, 1991), which completed the third stage. 

In implementation of commitments undertaken by Bulgaria in the negotiations for the country's accession to the European Union, Unit 1 and Unit 2 of the nuclear power plant were disconnected from the country's energy system on December 31, 2002, according to a decision of the Council of Ministers of December 19, 2002.

At the time of shutdown, Unit 1 was in its 23rd fuel campaign, having produced 66,675,397 megawatt-hours of electricity from 1974 to 2002, and Unit 2 was in its 24th fuel campaign, having produced 68,905,334 megawatt-hours of electricity from 1975 to 2002.

In fulfillment of Bulgaria's obligations under the Treaty of Accession of the country to the European Union, signed on April 25, 2005, Unit 3 and Unit 4 of the power plant were disconnected from the country's energy system on December 31, 2006, according to a decision of the Council of Ministers of December 21, 2006.

At the time of shutdown, Unit 3 was in its 22nd fuel campaign and from 1980 to 2006 had produced 68,703,260 megawatt-hours of electricity, and Unit 4 was in its 21st fuel campaign and from 1982 to 2006 had produced 66,711,966 megawatt-hours of electricity.

Currently, Kozloduy NPP EAD operates two nuclear power units, Unit 5 and Unit 6.

From the commissioning of Unit 1 of the Kozloduy NPP in 1974 until the end of 2023, the nuclear power plant has produced 699,802,363 megawatt-hours of electricity.

An anniversary concert was held in Botev Park in Kozloduy on Wednesday. During the event, awards were presented with the support of the Ministry of Energy, the Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH) and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA), the press centre of the nuclear power plant informed BTA. 

Deputy Energy Minister Krassimir Nenov, BEH Executive Director Valentin Nikolov and NRA Chair Tsanko Bachiyski attended the celebration.

The Kozloduy NPP received dozens of greetings messages.

Energy expert Tsolo Kotaranski, who started working in the plant in 1973 and participated in the launch of all six units, told BTA he was pleased to work with industrious, enthusiastic and capable managers and specialists. Over the course of his career, Kotaranski headed various divisions of the plant and worked at the site for the future Belene NPP, and was in charge of between 600 and 1,600 employees at any given moment.

"I was trained by an expert from Russia," Kotaranski recalled. "The teams I was in charge of included Poles and Vietnamese. Sometimes we worked for 72 hours without leaving the NPP site. This is how things stood in those years. In some periods 13,000 people were working during construction and the launch operations."

At first, Kotaranski lived in a container home in the plant as there was not enough housing for the workers. His first monthly wage was BGN 110, and for his part in the launch of Unit 1 he received BGN 120 for overtime work. Today, at 81, he continues to share his experience with young specialists.

Another Kozloduy veteran, Yordan Petrov, told BTA he worked for the launch of Units 2, 3 and 4. He remembers that there were many young people who were enthusiastic about learning to become energy experts. Petrov studied at a vocational school in Byala Slatina and worked at Kozkoduy for 35 years. He was successively a turbine operator, a reactor unit operator and head of turbine division. His last job before retiring was at the State Enterprise for Radioactive Waste, which oversaw the decommissioning of the older reactors at Kozloduy.

"In the first six months, I refused to discharge my duties about dismantling the smaller [and older] reactors. Imagine that I was supposed to cut into scrap what I had operated earlier, a 25-metre piece of equipment [a turbine] which I had proudly harnessed. It was very hard, but I realized that, after all, I was playing a part in the decommissioning of the units just as I had contributed to their construction and launch," Petrov said.

The guests at the celebration received silver-coated medals featuring the plant buildings and the anniversary logo.

Dozens of artists performed during the concert. Visitors made three trips on a replica of the historic steamship Radetzky. An exhibition opened in Botev Park.