site.btaKozloduy NPP Unit 5 to Be Shut Down for Annual Maintenance, Refueling on May 5

Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 5 is to be shut down for scheduled annual maintenance and refueling on May 5, the NPP said.  

As part of Kozloduy NPP's diversification programme, RWFA-type fuel assemblies manufactured by the US company Westinghouse will be loaded into the unit's reactor, following a permit from the Nuclear Regulation Agency (NRA).

The necessary quantity of the new fuel assemblies was delivered to Kozloduy NPP on April 20. During each refuelling, a quarter of the assemblies in the reactor are replaced during the annual scheduled repairs, thus the process of a phased transition to the new nuclear fuel will last for four years, the NPP said.

The process of preparing for the transition to Westinghouse fuel began in 2019 with the signing of the contract with the company. During this time, several stages have been passed, and the necessary documents required by the NRA have been secured, Kozloduy NPP CEO Valentin Nikolov said earlier this week. On April 22, due to positive opinions of the agency's inspectors, permission was granted for a phased transition of unit 5 from Russian to US fuel, NRA Chairman Tsanko Bachiyski told a briefing.