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Fuel storage facility for Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear power plant
EBRD-managed fund provides EUR49 million financing
A consortium of the German companies RWE Nukem and GNB – Gesellschaft für
Nuklearbehälter has been awarded the contract for the construction of a spent
fuel storage facility at the Bulgarian nuclear power plant Kozloduy. The €49
million turn-key contract includes design, manufacturing, constructing,
testing and commissioning of the storage. The facility is planned to be
operative in 2008. It will initially have a capacity of 2,800 spent fuel
assemblies from VVER-440 reactors and will be extendable for future needs of
the plant.
The construction is financed with funds from the Kozloduy International
Decommissioning Support Fund, which is managed and administered by the EBRD.
The fund helps Bulgaria to finance facilities needed in the decommissioning of
units at the site as well as in investing in sustainable energy projects,
particularly in energy efficiency measures. Bulgaria has already closed units
1 and 2 of the Kozloduy NPP at the end of 2002.
EBRD Vice President Fabrizio Saccomanni called the contract an important
milestone in the implementation of the overall decommissioning programme, made
possible by the constant support from donor governments and the excellent
co-operation with the authorities in Bulgaria.
The European Union and a number of EU member countries as well as Switzerland
have so far contributed about € 110 million to the fund, which was set up as
part of Bulgaria’s preparations to join the EU. Contributions are expected to
increase significantly over the coming years.
The storage technology used at Kozloduy will be cask storage of the CONSTOR
type made by GNB. RWE Nukem will be responsible for the project management,
design and construction of the storage building and auxiliary systems as well
as for the safety analysis. The two companies have already been working
together in a similar project at the Czech nuclear power Plant Dukovany in the
1990s.
Nuclear safety grant funds, managed by EBRD on behalf of donor governments,
make a substantial contribution to sustainable energy development. Besides
improvements in nuclear safety, decommissioning of nuclear units and
environmental rehabilitation of nuclear sites, the funds provide grant
co-financing for energy efficiency, environmental emission controls and a
measures to limit demand. Donor governments and the European Community have
pledged close to €2 billion to these funds.
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