July 10 (SeeNews) - A new plasma melting facility at Bulgaria's nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy has started operations, following a 31 million euro ($36.3 million) investment, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Tuesday.
Using plasma technology, the facility will significantly reduce the volume of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste from NPP Kozloduy's four units in decommissioning and its two operational units, the EBRD said in a statement.
The facility, which will be operated by the State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (SERAW), has a capacity of up to 250 tonnes per year. The technology allows for treatment of waste with a minimum risk of radioactive contamination, the EBRD said.
The EBRD-managed Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF) financed 65% of the project, while Bulgaria provided the remaining 35%.
Spain's Iberdrola Ingeniería y Construcción was the project's engineering company, while Belgium's Belgoprocess acted as the process provider.
NPP Kozloduy remained with two operational units of 1,000 MW each, Units 5 and 6, after Bulgaria closed down four older units of 440 MW each to address the nuclear safety concerns of the European Union prior to the country's accession to the bloc in 2007.
($ = 0.8540 euro)
AETs Kozloduy EAD is among the biggest companies in SEE. You can download our SEE Top 100 ranking
here or subscribe to our free Top 100 newsletter
here