The dismantling campaign started in the summer of 2010 with the first operation of physical dismantling. As of today the last activities on the final dismantling of the first condenser of Turbine Generator 1 (TG 1) were carried out and the ground zero was reached. That became possible after the efforts of SD Decommissioning –Kozloduy for cutting out, dismantling and transporting the condenser’s bundles of TG 1 to the temporary storage site and additionally fragmenting them. During the first two months of 2013 the SERAW experts managed to complete also the work on removing the metal lining and the insulation wool of the first two deaerators. At the moment the cutting out of the pipe bundles of the TG 1 and TG 2 four condensers is continuing, the dismantling activities for the third deaerator, which will start at the beginning of March, are in preparation.
The equipment dismantling from units 1 and 2 of Kozloduy NPP comes as an answer to the decommissioning commitment which the Bulgarian state undertook. In November 1999 the Bulgarian government and the European Commission signed a Memorandum with which Bulgaria undertook a commitment for shutting down and decommissioning of the small units of the nuclear power plant. As result of this all four units were shut down within the agreed deadlines – units 1 and 2 at the end of 2002, and units 3 and 4 at the end of 2006.
Following a decision of the Council of Ministers from 2008, units 1 and 2 were declared to be facilities for radioactive waste management and together with all the necessary moveable properties they were submitted to SERAW. In 2010 NRA issued to SERAW licenses for operation of the first two units as facilities for management of radioactive waste, which are subject to decommissioning, and terminated the licenses of Kozloduy NPP for their operation in condition “E”. Yesterday, 26 February 2013, NRA handed over to the State Enterprise Radioactive Waste the licenses for operation of units 3 and 4 as facilities for radioactive waste management.
The dismantling and transportation of equipment and infrastructure from the units started from outside, i.e. first the equipment from the second circuit (the conventional non-radioactive part) was dismantled, meeting the highest standards of ecology, environmental protection and labour safety. After meeting the necessary deadlines and completing the mandatory procedures, starts the dismantling of equipment from the first circuit of units 1 to 4 with various rates of radioactivity.
The final goal of SERAW is to achieve a status, which meets the criteria for releasing the site of the first four units up to a condition suitable for unlimited use for industrial purposes, set in the national regulation and the international standards.
