US-based Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bulgaria’s Kozloduy NPP - Newbuild on the potential deployment of one or more AP1000 reactors at the site. The agreement establishes a joint working group to initiate planning for the Generation III+ nuclear technology. The working group will also evaluate regulatory, licensing and design bases to ensure full compliance with applicable regulations.
Currently, Kozloduy NPP operates two Soviet-built VVER-1000 reactors (units 5&6). Bulgaria was obliged to close four older VVER-440 units as a condition for accession to the European Union, even though the units had undergone significant safety upgrades. Bulgaria's parliament in January mandated the caretaker government to begin talks with the USA on a potential agreement for the construction of two additional reactors at the Kozloduy NPP (units 7&8) using Westinghouse AP1000 technology.
Earlier, Bulgaria, which is under pressure to reduce its energy dependency on Russia, signed an agreement with France's Framatome to receive fresh nuclear fuel for unit 6 between 2025 and 2034 following a similar agreement with Westinghouse Electric in December for nuclear fuel for unit 5. Fuel is currently supplied by Russia’s TVEL. The documentation for the project and the change of fuel is still being considered in the Nuclear Regulatory Agency.
Kozloduy NPP - New Power is a subsidiary of Kozloduy NPP set up as a project company specifically to manage a project to build one or two new units on the Kozloduy site. The aim is to use existing infrastructure and to benefit from the improved licensing and ecological status of the site. Studies have already been carried out only for a seventh unit at Kozloduy NPP, and an environmental assessment of the project has been undertaken. For unit 8, such procedures are still in the conceptual phase.
Currently, the AP1000 is not licensed or operating anywhere in Europe. In the USA two AP1000 reactors are under construction at the Vogle NPP in Georgia but are significantly delayed and over budget. Two Westinghouse AP1000 units are in operation at China’s Sanmen and Haiyang NPPs, and two CAP1000 units, the Chinese version of the AP1000, are being built as the second phase of each station. The proposed construction of four CAP1000 reactors (units 1-4) at China’s Lufeng NPP was approved by the National Development & Reform Commission but has not yet received State Council approval. Westinghouse noted that three AP1000 units have recently been selected in Poland and nine others are planned in Ukraine.
Image: Georgy Kirkov, chairman of Kozloduy NPP - Newbuild (L), and Elias Gedeon, senior vice president for Westinghouse (R) at the signing ceremony (courtesy of Westinghouse)