site.btaEnergy Minister, European Commission Officials Discuss Diversification of Nuclear Fuel Supply

Energy Minister Rumen Radev held a meeting with European Commission's Deputy Director General for Energy General Directorate Massimo Garribba in Sofia, the Ministry said Friday. Bulgaria continues to take measures and actively work towards an actual diversification of fuel supply for this country’s nuclear power plant, Radev said at the meeting. Deputy Energy Ministers Nikolay Nikolov and Krassimir Nenov, EC’s Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Waste and Decommissioning Unit Deputy Head Gianfranco Brunetti, EC’s Decommissioning officer Michel Sonck, and experts from the Bulgarian Energy Ministry also took part in the discussions.

Radev identified the highest level of nuclear safety and energy supply security as Bulgaria’s main priorities as far as nuclear fuel supply diversification is concerned.

In early August, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) signed contracts with the French Institute of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) and with a Czech-Ukrainian consortium on an expert assessment of selected safety analysis reports for the licensing of Robust Westinghouse Fuel Assembly (RWFA) for Unit 5 of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. The regulator will use the results of the expert assessments in the process of making a decision on licensing the new type of nuclear fuel for Kozloduy Unit 5.

On August 2, the regulator completed its review of Kozloduy NPP's application for a permit to carry out a phased transition of Unit 5 of the nuclear power plant to operation with a new type of RWFA nuclear fuel produced by Westinghouse. The review found that Kozloduy NPP had not submitted two documents: a draft amendment to Chapter 15 "Accident Analysis" of the Safety Analysis Report and a draft amendment to the administrative instruction "Preparation of neutron-physical characterization reports for the VVER-1000 reactor".

Friday’s discussions also covered the current state of Bulgaria’s energy system and the country's Territorial Just Transition Plans. According to Radev, the main objective is to ensure electricity system security and electricity generation and to focus on power plants’ future and ways to protect jobs in the transition to a low-carbon economy.

Radev stressed that Bulgaria relies on EC’s support in enabling regions to develop in the best interest of their local communities.