INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Bulgarias sole nuclear power plant signed a nuclear fuel supply handle a French company on Friday in an effort to end its reliance on
deliveries from Russia in the wake of Moscows intrusion of Ukraine.The state-owned Kozloduy plant on the Danube river currently counts on
Russian fuel for its 2 Soviet-built 1,000-megawatt reactors
Under a 10-year arrangement signed Friday, Framatome, a subsidiary of French energy giant EDF, will provide nuclear fuel to Kozloduys system
5 reactor from early 2025
Recently, Kozloduy signed a comparable contract with Westinghouse Electric Sweden to provide nuclear fuel for its other functional reactor,
With the 2 agreements in place we have actually accomplished complete diversity of nuclear fuel deliveries for Bulgarias only nuclear
reactor, acting Energy Minister Rosen Hristov said at the signing ceremony
The goal is security of shipments and safe operation, he added.Westinghouses nuclear fuel has yet to be approved for use by Bulgarias
Nuclear Regulatory Agency.However, Framatomes fuel is identical to the one presently used in Kozloduy as it is being produced under license
from the nuclear unit of Russias Rosatom, Tvel.Bulgarias present agreement with Tvel expires in at the end of 2025
Kozloduy supplies over a 3rd of Bulgarias power and is a significant exporter of electrical energy to the rest of the Balkans, triggering
the plant to discover an alternative to Russian nuclear fuel deliveries in order to guarantee its ongoing operation amid the war in Ukraine.
