May 8 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria has invited expressions of interest (EoI) for the execution of a pre-disposal hydrogeological monitoring programme on the Radiana site during construction of the National Disposal Facility (NDF), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Tuesday.
The purpose of the project of the Bulgarian State Enterprise for Radioactive Waste (SERAW) "is to continue the collection of data and to update the existing baseline information for the hydrogeological conditions prevailing at the NDF site prior to commencement of operations and to provide information for any changes in the hydrogeological settings due to the construction activities," the EBRD said in a statement.
The maximum budget available for the assignment is 280,000 euro ($332,300). The contract will be financed by a grant from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF).
The assignment is expected to start in September and last 49 months.
The construction of the NDF Phase 1, located on land adjacent to nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy, is expected to be completed in 2021. The facility will serve for disposal of short-lived low and intermediate level radioactive wastes generated in Bulgaria, mainly from the decommissioning of Units 1-4 of Kozloduy.
Kozloduy has two operational units - Units 5 and 6 - of 1,000 MW each. The plant's four other units, of 440 MW each, were closed down to address nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to Bulgaria's accession to the bloc in 2007.
($ = 0.8425 euro)