The state has launched the environmental assessment for the Eighth Block of the Kozloduy NPP

The new seventh unit of the Kozloduy NPP is expected to be commissioned in 2034. Bulgaria is also starting the EIA procedure for the eighth unit of the plant. Both blocks will be made with AP 1000 technology. This became clear from the words of Minister Rumen Radev, who took part in the forum "Possibilities of nuclear technologies for decarbonization of energy in Europe - technologies, projects, services". It is organized by the Bulgarian Energy and Mining Forum, and the media partner is 3eNews. The procedure for the new environmental assessment is expected to start from the Kozloduy NPP and last several years.

The procedure must be coordinated at the European Union level and approved by all member countries. For the Seventh Block, the EIA procedure has been completed, which took years. "Our goal is to have Unit Seven of the Kozloduy NPP connected and functioning by 2034." And after that, between 2 and 3 years, the Eighth Block should come into operation," explained the minister during the conference. The government's original ideas were to have Unit Seven ready and connected to the energy system by 2033.

At approximately this moment, it is expected that the sharp limitation of the work of coal plants in our country will begin.

He specified that an intergovernmental agreement between Bulgaria and the USA is expected to be prepared within the next month, so that our country can benefit from the AP 1000 technology of the "Westinghouse" company. This agreement must be ratified by the Bulgarian Parliament and the US Senate. This technology gives us not only a new facility for the nuclear island, but also exchange of experience, information, personnel development. With such a decision, the processing and storage of highly radioactive waste that remains after the operation of the unit will be developed.

Minister Radev expects that after February 2, the short-list of potential candidates who would like to build the Seventh Unit of the Kozloduy NPP will be ready. From now on, Russian companies with experience in the field are excluded from the invitation. "The goal is to be able to form an agreement between the supplier of the nuclear facility, the main contractor of construction activities, and the supplier of turbine equipment by the summer," explained Radev.

The longer-term goal is to form an agreement with the EPC contractor by next summer and then order the equipment with a long production period, Radev shared the vision. "I hope this process becomes irreversible, but also feasible. The project is completely and categorically achievable," Minister Radev also stated.

Nuclear energy will be and is an essential part of the entire decarbonization process in Europe. The minister pointed out that when talking about decarbonization and green transition, nuclear energy has its essential role.

According to Radev, attention and efforts should be directed to solving issues important to society, which are not only in the part of building the capacities, because they must be reliable, safe, as well as sustainable for exploitation. "These are questions with difficult answers, with technological challenges in them, but these are the questions that excite the public in order to have confidence in this technology as well," said the minister

Railway connection to the city of Kozloduy

After 50 years of operating a nuclear power plant, the state decided to build a railway connection with the Kozloduy NPP. The Ministry of Energy and the National Railway Infrastructure Company have started the process of preparing the necessary infrastructure, explained Minister Radev. The port of the Kozloduy NPP will also be reviewed and how much it needs to be modernized.

The state will also speed up the process of training specialized personnel needed for the nuclear industry in our country. Currently, various programs are being made with the Technical University in Sofia and Sofia University to encourage young people to develop in the nuclear field. Training programs are also being sought with partner countries such as the USA and France, it became clear from the words of Minister Radev.

Another important task of the Ministry of Energy is to find a way for alternative processing of spent nuclear fuel from units 5 and 6 of the Kozloduy NPP. Until now, it has been exported for processing back to the Russian Federation, but now the target is a European consortium of countries to find a way to store and dispose of spent fuel.

Valentin Nikolov: There is a renaissance in nuclear energy, it is emission-free

Thanks to the policies implemented by the Ministry of Energy and the National Assembly, Bulgaria is in one of the leading positions in energy and with the possibility of being among the first countries to introduce the AP 1000 technology. This was also stated by the executive director of Kozloduy NPP, Valentin Nikolov, who took part in the conference. According to him, the world is currently being rebuilt, and this is also happening in the energy sector. For this reason, Bulgaria must also be in sync with these policies. The expert recalled that nuclear energy is an emission-free basic energy. This type of energy is currently undergoing a renaissance. "I think we are on the right track and I hope this time we will see it through to the end," said Nikolov, referring to the construction of new nuclear units at Site 2 at the Kozloduy NPP. The government has so far allocated BGN 1.5 billion to the company for the start of construction activities.