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, system 6, from 2024.
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.