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A delegation of the Committee on Budgets of the European Parliament visited Bulgaria from 28 to 30 October with regard to the decommissioning of shut down capacities of Kozloduy NPP.

Head of delegation of the European Parliament was Mrs Ingeborg Grassle. The group was accompanied also by the Bulgarian MEP Ivaylo Kalfin. The central place in the work of the mission was dedicated to the visit on the site of 440-MW units of Kozloduy NPP. The site visit was conducted within a day.

During the visit to Kozloduy the members of the EP had a working meeting with the Management Board, the management staff and experts from the State Enterprise Radioactive Waste, which is an operator of the decommissioning process. The meeting was attended also by the Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy Mr Ivan Ayolov.

A Plan for Decommissioning according to the National Strategy for management of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste was presented to the members of the Committee on Budgets, as well as the current status of the decommissioning projects, financed by the European Union. The MEPs received precise information according to which since the shutdown of Units 1-2 the KIDSF has allocated the total amount of 867.8 МEUR, from which 455.5 МEUR were directly dedicated to the decommissioning process, and 412.3 МEUR were dedicated to indirect expenses (the so called “non-nuclear window” – measures for energy efficiency, rehabilitation of generating capacities, etc.). 118 contracts were signed under the “nuclear window” at the total amount of 312.527 МEUR. From them 76 contract were effectively completed and 224.154 МEUR were paid for them. There are delays on 4 projects. The experts explained that to the Committee with the need for reconsidering the initial Technical ToR and the need to use foreign companies for their implementation due to the lack of “know-how” in Bulgaria which additionally slows the process as procedures. The SERAW team committed to prepare also information in response to clarifying questions appeared in the delegation members during the discussion. In conclusion of the working meeting Mrs Grassle expressed her gratitude to the participants for their openness and readiness to share with the Committee the whole enormous amount of information related to the decommissioning.

The representatives of the European Parliament visited the Turbine Hall of Units 1-4 in order to become acquainted with the actual progress of the dismantling of equipment in the conventional part of the units. At their request they also visited the Dry Spent Fuel Storage Facility which construction is also funded by the European Union.

Within a short social program at the end of the day the Committee members visited the Museum “Radetzky” where they were introduced to the historical past of the town and received information for SERAW’s activities of corporative social responsibility and the work for building a dialog with the local community.

Within their visit to Bulgaria the members of the delegation had additional working meetings in the Ministry of Economy and Energy, the Court of Auditors and the National Assembly.

At the end of their visit the members of the Committee on Budgets summarized in front of the journalists their impressions from the completed mission to Bulgaria. At the beginning they explained that in the last 14 months they had similar visits to Lithuania and Slovakia, where EU finances projects on decommissioning of nuclear capacities as well. Mrs Grassle expressed her satisfaction with the work done during the three days, she thanked for the assistance received and summarized the general information for the decommissioning projects which were in implementation. She informed that the Bulgarian party has committed to send additional information in writing on part of the discussed technical topics and just after that the Committee would prepare the final report. According to the direct impressions of the delegation members the dismantling activities in the Turbine Hall of Units 1-4 are done in professional and responsible manner. The functions and obligations of the nuclear capacities operator – Kozloduy NPP and the decommissioning operator – SERAW are already clearly distinguished, which guarantees that the projects are managed accurately in terms of their funding.