Decommissioning of nuclear installations
The third specialized division within the State Enterprise Radioactive Waste was established in response to the objective necessity of safe management and subsequent decommissioning of closed nuclear units of Kozloduy NPP. At the end of 2008, the Bulgarian government declared Units 1 and 2 as installations for RAW management and entrusted them to the Enterprise. As a result of this, the Specialized Division Decommissioning – Kozloduy (SDD Kozloduy) was founded.
By this act Bulgaria fulfilled a commitment under its European Union accession treaty.
During the first phase of the history of Specialized Division Decommissioning – Kozloduy (SDD Kozloduy), from January 2009 until September 2010, a team of around 20 specialists prepared and performed the gradual transfer of the assets of Kozloduy NPP Units 1 and 2 to SE RAW. The relevant documentation necessary for the application procedurefor grant of a license to allow implementation of the activities resulting from this governmental decision was prepared at the same time.
On October 18, 2010, SE RAW was granted licenses for operation of Kozloduy NPP Units 1 and 2 as installations for management of radioactive waste.
On November 1, 2010, around 100 specialists, working by that time at Kozloduy NPP Units 1 and 2, became employees of SE RAW. Their task was tomaintain the licensing mode of operation of Kozloduy NPP Units 1 and 2 as installations for radioactive waste.
The final structuring of the specialized division was followed by preparation of programs for dismantling of non-radioactive equipment from secondary circuit of both units.
On June 22, 2011, SE RAW initiated the first operation for actual disassembly of equipment (receivers of first turbine generator) of Units 1 and 2 of the nuke, which were shut down at the end of 2002.
In 2011, SDD Kozloduy completed successfully five dismantling programs in total.
In 2012, by the end of November, over 2300 tons of equipment was dismantled from the Turbine Hall of Units 1 and 2.
On November 21, 2012, the Council of Ministers declared Units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy NPP as installations for management of radioactive waste and entrusted their management to State Enterprise Radioactive Waste through SDD Kozloduy.
On the 26th of February 2013 SERAW was awarded with Licenses for the operation of KNPP Units 3 and 4 as facilities for RAW management which are subject for decommissioning. In relation to the new SERAW’s Licenses issue, the old KNPP Plc Licenses for active operation mode were suspended.
On 1 March 2013, 432 people so far employees of KNPP, working in Units 3 and 4, were transferred to the staff of SERAW in accordance with Art.123 para 1.
On 27 November 2014, SERAW was awarded with Licenses for decommissioning of the KNPP’s shutdown Units 1 and 2. The License term is 10 years and activities which it permits are carried out by Specialized Division Decommissioning of Units 1-4.
On the 28th July 2016, State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (SERAW) obtained decommissioning licenses for Units 3 and 4 of Kozloduy NPP.The documents were handed officially on the 22nd August 2016 to the enterprise’s Executive Director – Dilyan Petrov by the Chairman of the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lachezar Kostov. The term of the license is 10 years.
On the 2nd February 2018, the Executive Agency “Bulgarian Accreditation Service” officially accredited Specialized Division – Inspection Body Type C “RELEASE FROM REGULATORY CONTROL” within the structure of State Enterprise Radioactive Waste.
On the 6th March 2018, a Size Reduction and Decontamination Workshop (SRDW) for materials from decommissioning was commissioned. In the SRDW are installed facilities for mechanical, chemical and electrochemical decontamination of materials from equipment dismantled from Kozloduy NPP Units 1-4.
On the 12th November 2018 started the first 20-week operational campaign of the newly built Plasma Melting Facility (PMF). The facility is intended for treatment of low- and intermediate-level RAW with a high-volume reduction factor. The annual throughput of the PMF is 250 t.
On the 3rd September 2019, the completion of dismantling activities in the Turbine Hall of Units 1-4 – the conventional island of the shutdown nuclear facilities, was reported.