Bulgaria’s sole Kozloduy nuclear power plant has signed a deal for extending the lifespan of one of its two operating 1,000-MW units with a consortium of Russia’s Rusatom Service and Bulgaria’s Risk Engineering.
The consortium will evaluate the technical status of the nuclear reactor and map out the necessary works for extending the life of Unit 6 up to 60 years, Kozloduy NPP said in a statement on Thursday.
The consortium should fulfil the assignment within 30 months.
Rusatom Service is a unit of Russia’s Rosatom.
The deal was signed during the 15th session of the joint Bulgarian-Russian intergovernmental commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation held in Sofia on 27 and 28 January.
Kozloduy NPP operates two Soviet-built units of 1,000 MW each, Unit Five and Unit 6, which were commissioned in 1987 and 1991, respectively.
Their original operational life is set to expire in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
Bulgaria closed Kozloduy’s four older Soviet-built reactors of 440 MW each to address nuclear safety concern of the European Union before joining the bloc in 2007.
