August 30 (SeeNews) - Studies by Bulgaria's nuclear regulatory agency on the possible addition of a 1,000 megawatt unit to the country's sole nuclear plant Kozloduy so far have shown possitive results, the plant's head said.
The Kolzoduy plant has spent 8 - 10 million levs ($4.6 - 5.7 million/4 -5.1 million euro) on technical, seismic and feasibility studies which have shown that a new unit can be added to the plant's site, its director Ivan Andreev told national radio broadcaster BNR on Monday.
The plant remained with two operational units - Units 5 and 6 - of 1,000 MW each after the country closed down four units of 440 MW each to address nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to its accession to the bloc. Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.
In April 2012, the government in Sofia decided to add another 1,000 MW unit to the plant. The planned Unit 7 is seen operational after 2025.
The main priority for the plant remains the extension of the life of the plant's units 5 and 6, which would cost 300 million euro in total, Andreev added.
The two units, which generate more than 33% of Bulgaria's total power output, were designed for a lifespan of 30 years, ending in 2017 and 2021, respectively.
In May, Rusatom Service, a unit of Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom, said it completed the technical stage of a project to extend the life of Unit 5 by up to 60 years.
In January, the plant said it contracted a consortium comprising a unit of Rosatom and local company Risk Engineering to conduct works on extending the life of the plant's unit 6.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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