Bulgaria edges closer to building US nuclear reactor

Bulgaria is getting closer to making a US nuclear reactor after the Bulgarian nuclear power plant Kozloduy signed an official engineering contract for Front-End Engineering and Design of a nuclear reactor using the AP-1000 technology with Westinghouse on Wednesday.

This is a big change for the former communist state, which, until the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relied entirely on Russian nuclear technology and nuclear fuel. This dependence justified the position of Bulgaria, which opposed the imposition of sanctions against Russian nuclear exports in 2022.

The American company announced the contract was signed in Pennsylvania between Westinghouse Electric Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations Elias Gideon and Director of Kozloduy NPP – New Power Plant Valentin Iliev.

“We are pleased to begin work to deliver the world’s most advanced, Generation III+ reactor technology to provide clean and reliable baseload energy for our customer and the people of Bulgaria,” said David Durham, Energy Systems President for Westinghouse.

In December 2022, the Kozloduy NPP concluded a contract with Westinghouse to supply nuclear fuel for the V reactor of the Bulgarian nuclear power plant, which was built using Russian technology.

Bulgaria had to urgently diversify its nuclear fuel supplies, for which it was entirely dependent on Russia. Bulgaria’s two operating nuclear reactors were built using Russian technology more than 30 years ago when the country was part of the Soviet bloc.

In 2013, the Bulgarian government signed a preliminary agreement with Westinghouse to construct a new nuclear unit at the Kozloduy NPP. A year later, the negotiations were terminated, and the project for constructing the new capacity was estimated at €7.7 billion . There are currently no new project cost analyses.

AP-1000 nuclear reactors are currently operating in the US and China. Poland has chosen the same technology to develop its nuclear power program, with nine reactors planned to be built in Ukraine as well. “The technology is under consideration at multiple other sites in Central and Eastern Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” Westinghouse said in a statement.

(Krassen Nikolov | EURACTIV.bg)

cover photo:This is a big change for the former communist state, which, until the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, relied entirely on Russian nuclear technology and nuclear fuel. [Shutterstock/Penka Todorova Vitkova]