Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant
| Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant | |
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| Country | Bulgaria |
| Location | Kozloduy |
| Coordinates | 43°44′46″N 23°46′14″E / 43.74611°N 23.77056°ECoordinates: 43°44′46″N 23°46′14″E / 43.74611°N 23.77056°E |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1970 |
| Commission date | 28 October 1974 1974 (Unit 1) 1975 (Unit 2) 1980 (Unit 3) 1982 (Unit 4) 1987 (Unit 5) 1991 (Unit 6) |
| Decommission date | 2004 (Units 1 & 2) 2007 (Units 3 & 4) |
| Reactor information | |
| Reactors operational | 2 x 960 MWe PWR (VVER-1000) |
| Reactors decom. | 4 x 440 MWe (VVER-440) |
| Power generation information | |
| Installed capacity | 1,920 MWe |
| Annual generation | 8,884 GWh |
| Net generation | 381,846 GWh |
| As of 31 October 2010 | |
The Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Bulgaria situated 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Sofia and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of Kozloduy, a town on the Danube river, near the border with Romania. It is the country's only nuclear power plant and the largest in the region. The construction of the first reactor began on 6 April 1970.[1]
Kozloduy NPP currently manages 2 pressurized water reactors with a total output of 2000 MWe. Units 5 and 6, constructed in 1987 and 1991 respectively, are VVER-1000 reactors. By 2014 they will be upgraded to reach a capacity of 1,100 MWe each.[2]
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[edit] Safety concerns and consequent partial shutdown
Kozloduy NPP previously operated four older reactors of the VVER-440/230 design, but under a 1993 agreement between the European Commission and the Bulgarian government, Units 1 and 2 were taken off-line at the beginning of 2004. A 1995 report by the United States Department of Energy had listed those units among the world's "ten most dangerous reactors".[3] On the 21 October 2010, licenses for the shutdown reactors were transferred to Bulgaria state radioactive waste enterprise DP RAO, signaling the formal beginning of decommissioning work.[4]
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s Units 3 and 4, originally licensed for operation until 2011 and 2013, respectively, underwent substantial safety improvements and, after rigorous inspections, received positive reviews from the IAEA[5] in 2002, and from the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) in the following year, concluding that "no technical reasons exist for the early closure of units 3 & 4".[6] Backed by these findings, the government had hoped to convince the European Commission to allow a postponement of the agreed pre-accession shutdown; from a legal and political standpoint, however, this proved untenable. Units 3 and 4 were taken out of operation in the final hours of 2006, immediately prior to the country's accession to the European Union.
82 metric tons of its spent fuel were sent to a repository in Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai during 2001 and 2002.[7] In 2008, officials at the power plant announced their intention to use CONSTOR storage casks for this purpose.[8]
Prior to the shutdown of units 3 and 4, Kozloduy NPP produced 44% of Bulgaria's electricity supply; as of March 2006, Bulgaria exported about 14% of its electricity production.
[edit] Pressure to restart
In January 2009 Bulgaria's president suggested that Unit 3 be restarted in light of the gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine and resulting power shortages in the region.[9] Under the conditions of its Accession Treaty Bulgaria may request temporary derogation from its commitments in the event of serious economic difficulties arising within the first three years of membership in the union.[10]
[edit] Ownership
Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is a subsidiary of Bulgarian Energy Holding EAD.[11][12]
[edit] Future expansion
Construction of two new reactors has been predicted.[13] The Belene Nuclear Power Plant is also under construction.
[edit] References
- ^ "Kozloduy NPP Plc - History". Web page o Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant. http://www.kznpp.org/index.php?lang=en&p=about_aec&p1=company_history. Retrieved 2011-03-16.
- ^ Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuke plant to invest 120M leva to boost capacity
- ^ Broad, William J. (1995-07-23). "U.S. Lists 10 Soviet-Built Nuclear Reactors as High Risk". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE6DE1F3FF930A15754C0A963958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ "All change at shut-down Bulgarian reactors". World Nuclear News. 2010-10-21. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=28661. Retrieved 2010-10-27.
- ^ "IAEA Experts Review Safety of Kozloduy Units 3 and 4". IAEA. 2002-07-09. http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2002/prn0210.shtml. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ "Nuclear Power in Bulgaria". World Nuclear Association. 2008-12-01. http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf87.html. Retrieved 2009-01-08.
- ^ National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the Scientific Aspects of an International Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility in Russia, Glenn E. Schweitzer, A. Chelsea Sharber, et. al (2005). An international spent nuclear fuel storage facility: exploring a Russian site as a prototype : proceedings of an international workshop. National Academies Press. pp. 145, 146. ISBN 9780309096881. http://books.google.com/books?id=MjWTDL4mlu8C&pg=PA146&dq=Kozloduy+Nuclear+Power+Plant&as_brr=3&cd=7#v=onepage&q=Kozloduy%20Nuclear%20Power%20Plant&f=false.
- ^ "The English Language Bulletin of Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant". Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant Official Bulletin. 2008. http://www.kznpp.org/uf//buletini/2008/KNPP_2_08.pdf. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
- ^ "Bulgaria urges return to nuclear". BBC. 2009-01-06. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7814477.stm. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ "Act concerning the conditions of accession of the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania and the adjustments to the Treaties on which the European Union is founded". Official Journal of the European Union. 2005-06-01. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:157:0203:0220:EN:PDF. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
- ^ "Bulgaria Consolidates Five Energy Companies into Holding". Sofia News Agency. 2008-02-13. http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=90355. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ "Bulgaria announces birth of energy giant with new holding company". Power Engineering. 2008-02-14. http://pepei.pennnet.com/display_article/320064/6/ARTCL/Display/none/1/Bulgaria-announces-birth-of-energy-giant-with-new-holding-company/. Retrieved 2008-02-24.
- ^ 7. и 8. блок в АЕЦ "Козлодуй" излизат в битка с АЕЦ "Белене"
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant |
- Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant homepage
- Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency
- IAEA's Bulgaria links
- Article with diagrams
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