Bulgaria Breaks Ground on Nuclear Waste Storage Site

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Bulgaria has broken ground on a new low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste repository which will be located next to the shuttered Kozloduy nuclear power plant on the river Danube, close to the border with Romania.

The facility is being developed by the country's State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (SERAW), which is overseeing the decommissioning of the four reactors at the Kozloduy plant. The groundbreaking was attended by Bulgaria's Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova, who said the repository is essential for the future development of nuclear energy in the country. It will be constructed by Nukem Technologies GmBH (Alzenau, Germany).

"The construction of the repository is a sine qua non for the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria," Petkova told media. "The construction of the facility is also enshrined in the present program of the Bulgarian government for the period 2017-2021."

The first stage is being funded by a loan of more than 71 million euro ($85 million) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The repository will be a near-surface, trench-type facility with multiple-barrier protection for permanent storage of treated waste packaged in reinforced concrete containers. Located in a radiation-protected area of the Kozloduy site, it will have a capacity for 138,200 cubic metres (m3) of radioactive waste. That waste will come from the decommissioning of Kozloduy Units 1-4 and operating nuclear power plants, as well as waste from other industrial sectors. It will not be suitable for storing high-level waste or spent nuclear fuel. Construction is expected to take four years, with commissioning in 2021 and an operational lifespan of 60 years, followed by close monitoring for a further 300 years.

Bulgaria agreed to closing Kozloduy units 1 and 2 in 2002, followed by units 3 and 4 in 2006, as part of its terms for joining the European Union (EU) in 2007. The reactors are Russian-made V-230 model VVER-440 reactors. The plant's more recent units 5 and 6 are still operational, generating 2,000 megawatts (MW) of power from a pair of VVER-1000 reactors.

Earlier this summer Industrial Info reported that hot trials had begun at a new radioactive waste facility located at Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant, where decommissioning is underway. It will store special casks that will be filled with 16,000 used fuel rods from the reactors. About 190 casks will be needed to store them all for up to 50 years, and each filled cask will weigh 118 tonnes. It has also been constructed by Nukem. For additional information, see June 19, 2017, article - Hot Trials Under Way at Nuclear Waste Facility in Lithuania.

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