The Nuclear Regulatory Agency has issued to the State Enterprise “Radioactive Waste” the first electronic licence for decommissioning in the country. The document has been in force since 1 January 2026 for a period of five years and defines the safety requirements for the decommissioning of the Permanent Radioactive Waste Repository near the village of Novi Han, Elin Pelin Municipality.

The repository is intended for the temporary storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated in the country from industry, medicine, agriculture, and research (institutional radioactive waste). The facility has been in operation since 1964 as part of the Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and since 2006 it has been under the structure of the State Enterprise “Radioactive Waste.” As of early January 2026, in accordance with the “Strategy for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Radioactive Waste up to 2030,” the nuclear facility transitioned from the operational phase to the decommissioning phase.

The decommissioning activities of the facility, in accordance with the conditions of the issued licence, include decontamination and dismantling of structures, systems, and components, as well as management of materials and radioactive waste resulting from the decommissioning processes.

The decommissioning activities are carried out in full compliance with the Act on the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy and the applicable regulatory framework. SERAW prioritizes radiation protection of personnel and the public, as well as environmental protection, in line with established principles and standards.

The purpose of the scientific visit was for the Polish experts to familiarize themselves in due time with various aspects of decommissioning, radioactive waste management (RAW), as well as with the related regulatory activities.

The Polish delegation visited the Permanent Repository for RAW near Novi han to learn firsthand about the more important issues, linked with the monitoring programme, waste acceptance criteria and subsequent management thereof. In the following days of the visit, the focus shifted on the activities of the Specialized Divisions of SERAW at Kozloduy site. In a number of meetings, presentations and discussions at the Information Centre for Decommissioning, experts and part of the management of the Enterprise explained the main points in implementation of the Decommissioning Programme, RAW management, as well as further disposal. The Polish delegation had the opportunity to familiarize themselves visually with SERAW organisation and actual work processes by visiting in-situ the Turbine Hall of Units 1 to 4, Control Room – 2, Free Release Measurement Facility, Size Reduction & Decontamination Workshop, Storage Facility for temporary storage of conditioned RAW and the National Disposal Facility for low- and intermediate-level RAW on Radiana site. At the end of the visit, the Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Tsanko Bachiyski, and the President of the National Atomic Energy Agency of Poland, Andrzej Głowacki, joined the group of Polish experts. Both of them also participated in the final meeting of the scientific visit to SERAW Head Office, where they had a formal conversation with the Chairman of the Management Board of the Enterprise, Sergey Tsochev, on the outcome of the visit and the prospects of strengthening professional relationship.

“We would like to thank you for the hospitality and overall organisation, for the comprehensive informational presentations and for the opportunity to visit real operating facilities of SERAW. The experience of the Bulgarian experts in the field of RAW management is impressive. The SERAW experts gave us many good examples of safe and sustainable radioactive waste management. We are impressed with the successful implementation of the National Disposal Facility project. We look forward to future collaboration,” shared the representatives of the Polish RAW Disposal Enterprise upon ending their scientific visit.

Poland is one of the few countries in the former Socialist Bloc to remain without a nuclear power plant. Currently, the energy transition plans are ambitious, and over the recent years the country has been actively working to build nuclear power facilities.

Nine topics covering the whole spectrum of activities of the national operator for management of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste generated on the territory of Bulgaria were presented during the forum. The audience included representatives of the scientific community, the Ministry of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, journalists and others. The event was opened by the SERAW’s Executive Director, Mr. Dilyan Petrov, and moderators were the first Executive Director of the Enterprise, Mr. Anton Ivanov and Mr. Sergey Tsochev, the first Chairman of the Management Board when it was first established in 2004.

The construction of a National Disposal Facility for radioactive waste, generated on the territory of the country, was one of the main topics in the seminar today. “The first stage of laying the protective loess-cement cushion for the future National Disposal Facility was completed,” said the Chief Engineer of the Specialized Division engaged in its construction – Mrs. Ira Stefanova. The cushion is one of the main engineering barriers against the spread of radioactive substances. The disposal cells of the future facility will be built on it. It provides protection to the facilities in accordance with the local environmental conditions. At the same time, the design of the facility is in line with the latest international theoretical and engineering advances in this specific field.

A highlight of the seminar was also the completed equipment dismantling in the Turbine Hall of the shutdown Units of Kozloduy NPP. Despite the lack of an extensive global experience in the field and the peculiarities of each individual project related to dismantling of nuclear facilities, State Enterprise Radioactive Waste manages to follow the selected strategy for decommissioning of the Units to the so called “brown field”. The deadlines set in the Decommissioning Programme are being met in compliance with all safety requirements and this was ascertained by the Monitoring Mission of the European Commission and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)*. Equipment dismantling was a key specific objective of SERAW in the decommissioning schedule planned for the period until 2030. The first actual dismantling operation took place in the summer of 2011 and the process was completed this autumn, almost one year ahead of the schedule.

The decommissioning of shutdown nuclear facilities is one of the main activity areas of SERAW’s activities and is a complex process with complex coordination with key priority on safety. To that end, innovative facilities were built and implemented in the last few years, such as the Size Reduction and Decontamination Workshop (SRDW) and the Plasma Melting Facility (PMF) (see the photos).

According to Mrs. Margarita Korkinova, Financial Director of the Enterprise, the decommissioning of radioactive facilities and management of radioactive waste, unlike all other areas, is not simply to scrap materials, but it’s an activity. „This often creates problems in the approach to accounting of activities related to radioactive waste management. The establishment of a unified approach to this problem is relevant and necessary, therefore our enterprise will initiate a project, which will become the basis of an international accounting standard in this area.“

„The reason for today’s event lies in the values our enterprise acknowledges. One of them is the pursuit of perfection, acquiring knowledge and continuous improvement of our work through education and training. We use science and innovation, we apply the best international practices, and we preserve and transfer the knowledge gained. And these are not just fine words“, mentioned Mr. Sergey Tsochev in his address to the audience.

SERAW was established in 2004 pursuant to the Act on the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy (ASUNE). The mission of the enterprise is the safe management of radioactive waste generated by the Kozloduy NPP and other nuclear applications in medicine, industry, science and education on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria.

*    Monitoring Committee missions take place every six months and are aimed at verifying the actual progress of the decommissioning activities and projects, as well as the construction progress of the National Disposal Facility for Low- and Intermediate Level Radioactive Waste, which is financed through grant funds by the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF). The KIDSF is funded by the European Union, as well as by the contributors to the KIDSF – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Finances are administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

    321 work and transport container containing 854  spent sealed radioactive sources were treated in the Hot Chamber facility
    25 000 sources of ionizing radiation (SIR) were dismantled from 12 110 ionization fire detectors.
    22.4 m2 coverage area from 14 containers of type UTK D 11 was decontaminated;
    8.15 m3 of low level secondary radioactive waste, evacuated from the repository for liquid RAW by the Liquid RAW Processing System, were processed;
    0.1031 m3 of liquid RAW were conditioned in cement;
    2.6 m3 of compactable radioactive waste were extruded – PPE (gloves, masks, overalls) including vegetation samples, laboratory consumables and packages;
    Activities were carried out in preparation of 48 financial evaluations, 48 contract agreements , 49 conformity inspections, 45 acceptances and 44 transports of RAW and radioactive substances.
In 2014 the planned phase of the special programme of SD PRRAW – Novi Han for 2014 was complete – irradiating facility type Gamma 1300 with 112 SIR and gamma-therapy facility Rokus were received. The project refers to the receiving of RAW from previous practices and it is financed by the United States Department of Energy as part of the Global Radiological Threat Reduction Initiative

In 2014 a large scale investment programme was complete, as a result of which the inner perimeter retention fence of the disposal facility was repaired entirely. Some investment projects were also implemented for asphalting the fire trace and constructing an adjacent drain ditch; for protection of over 500 m2 of concrete cover on the site against external impacts by laying polished concrete.

In the end of the past year, the specialised division developed and implemented a pilot project which was performed for a first time for the purposes of the RAW management.
Team of specialists from SD PRRAW – Novi Han retrieved 18 tons of Ammonium Uranyl Tricarbonate placed in 38 drums and repacked them in 58 euro-containers. Special technology was developed for this purpose and an original technical solution was implemented for the retrieval and repacking. Technological equipment and specialised lifting equipment by which the task was complete were delivered on Site Eleshnitza, Municipality of Razlog. This technology was used to repack the Uranium concentrate into certified euro-containers in order to be transported in accordance with the requirements of ADR (Agreement on Dangerous Goods by Road, Class 7 – radioactive substances).