2024-05-04 03:27:12
The fifth unit of the Kozloduy NPP is to be shut down for scheduled annual repairs and refueling with nuclear fuel on May 5, the plant announced, BTA reports.
As part of the diversification program of the Kozloduy NPP, RWFA type cartridges produced by the American company Westinghouse will be loaded into the unit’s reactor, after obtaining permission from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA).
The quantity of the new cartridges required for the first recharge was delivered to Kozloduy NPP on April 20. As part of each reload during the annual planned repairs, a quarter of the cartridges in the reactor are replaced, thus the process of gradual transition to the new nuclear fuel will last 4 years, the nuclear plant explains.
The process of preparation for the transition to Westinghouse fuel began in 2019 with the signing of the contract with the company. During this time, several stages have been passed, and the necessary documents required by the NRA have been secured, the executive director of Kozloduy NPP, Valentin Nikolov, recalled earlier this week. On April 22, as a result of the positive opinions of the agency’s inspectors, a permit was issued for the step-by-step transition of the fifth unit from Russian to American fuel, NRA chairman Tsanko Bachiiski added at a briefing.
During the stay, which is planned to end by mid-June, the necessary activities for repair, prevention and preventive maintenance of the equipment and systems of the Fifth Block will be carried out. This will ensure the safe and reliable operation of the nuclear power during the next fueling campaign of the reactor, the plant notes.
The sixth unit of the Kozloduy NPP is operating according to the electricity generation schedule.
For the supply of nuclear fuel for the sixth unit of the Kozloduy NPP, a contract has also been signed with the French company Framatom, with the first deliveries expected at the end of 2025, although some delay is possible. The Kozloduy NPP has a supply of Russian nuclear fuel for the sixth unit until 2029. After the first delivery of the fuel to Framatom for the sixth unit, the plant will operate with both types of fuel. In addition, the possibility of licensing fuel to “Westinghouse” for this block is also being studied at a future point, Nikolov pointed out earlier.