Bulgaria

Nuclear regulatory authority

The independent regulatory authority is the Nuclear Regulatory Agency.

Nuclear energy activities

There are two reactors - type WWER 1000, model 320 - currently in operation; four reactors - type WWER 440, model 230 - being prepared for decommissioning; two reactors - type WWER 1000, model 466 - under licensing, design approval stage; and one research reactor under reconstruction. In addition there are waste disposal facilities, medical units, industrial radioactive sources, and transportation of radioactive material.

Radioactive waste and spent fuel management

The basic document delineating the management of SF and RAW is the “Strategy for management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste” adopted by the Council of Ministers in 2004. Currently the Strategy is in a process of updating.

The management of radioactive waste in Bulgaria outside the place of their generation is carried out by a State Enterprise Radioactive Waste which is established pursuant to art. 78 (1) of the Act on Safe Use of Nuclear Energy. There are three specialized division within the enterprise, namely:

• Specialized division in Novi han (close to Sofia) – with the purpose of processing and temporary storage of low and medium active RAW generated in industry, medicine and science. - Specialized division in Kozloduy – with the purpose of conditioning and storage of low and medium active RAW generated as a result of the operation of the Kozloduy NPP.

• Specialized division responsible for all activities related to the creation of a National repository for disposal of low and medium active waste from nuclear facilities and nuclear applications. At the present moment the SE RAW is in a process of site selection for this facility, the final goal being for it to be commissioned by 2015.

The only facility, which generates spent nuclear fuel in Bulgaria, is the Kozloduy NPP. The SF is stored in the reactor pools and in a wet type spent fuel storage facility. Apart from the storing of SF on site of the Kozloduy NPP, part of it is shipped annually to Russia for reprocessing and storage.
A dry spent fuel storage facility is in a process of construction and it is expected to be commissioned in 2011.

Main legal instruments

The Law on Access to Public Information (Official Journal No. 55 of 7.07.2000, latest amendments OJ No. 104 of 5.12.2008).