4 Sept (NucNet): The Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) has issued a permit for the site selection of a new nuclear unit in the country, the NRA has said in a statement.
The permit was issued to Kozloduy NPP-New Build PLC, the company in charge of the development of a new nuclear reactor project in Bulgaria.
The permit says that the company is obligated to carry out engineering investigations and research activities necessary for the development of the foundations of the project and a safety assessment, which will demonstrate the quality of the chosen site.
The request for a permit was submitted in December 2012. It is in response to a government decision of April 2012 which sanctioned the addition of a new unit to the existing Kozloduy nuclear power plant.
The site selection is the first step of the technical aspects of the licensing procedure for the construction of a new nuclear unit. The next step will be the approval of the chosen site by the NRA.
Bulgaria has two commercially operational nuclear units – Kozloduy-5 and -6. They are VVER V-320 reactors with a net electrical output of 953 MW each.
In 1999, the Bulgarian government decided to close down the Kozloduy nuclear power plant’s four VVER V-230 units to comply with a condition of entry into the EU. Units 1 and 2 were shut down in 2002 and units 3 and 4 in 2006.
