Bulgarian Nuclear Plants Pass Stress Tests

Image of the Kozloduy NPP on Bulgaria's section of the Danube river. Photo by BGNES

Bulgaria's single Kozloduy NPP, as well as the projected Belene NPP, have passed the stress tests that probed their safety.

The already functioning Kozloduy NPP and the project for the nuclear plant in Belene, as described in its projects, are not vulnerable to extreme natural events and emergency situations in the production process, according to the stress test conclusions.

The final results of the stress tests were reported Saturday by Bulgaria's Agency for Nuclear Regulation.

The functioning 1000 MW Units 5 and 6 and the decommissioned units 3 and 4 have been tested, as well as warehouses for the processing of used nuclear fuel were tested at the Kozloduy NPP.

During the checks, impacts of natural events such as earthquakes, floods, abrupt temperature changes, and storms have been taken into account.

A few recommendations have been issued, such as the implementation of an emergency system in the event of a break in the Iron Gate dams up the Danube river, and the delivery of additional generators in the event of power outage.

Stress tests were also conducted on the Belene NPP project, although they were not mandatory. The fate of the project for the second Bulgarian nuclear power plant with a total production capacity of 2000 MW remains unclear as Bulgaria and RUssia's Atomstroyexport are stilling haggling over the price and other issues.

However, the stress tests for Belene have shown that the Belene NPP project has a complete level of protection from all natural disasters considered.

Safety concerns, along with worries that the price for the NPP is too high, have been among the key arguments used by opponents of the joint Russian-Bulgarian Belene NPP project.

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