Bulgaria's Kozloduy NPP Among World's Most Tested - EconMin

Bulgaria's Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant is among the most scrutinized NPPs in the world, according to the country's Energy and Economy Minister, Traicho Traikov.

Four of the total of six units at Kozloduy were closed due to EU safety requirements, Traikov pointed out during the European Nuclear Forum in Prague, featuring European Commissioner for Energy Guenther Oettinger.

The 440-MW Soviet-era Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the Kozloduy NPP were shut down in 2002 and 2006 on EU insistence leaving the only operational NPP in Bulgaria with two 1000-MW reactors.

"That is why Bulgaria now has the right to demand high safety standards to be implemented in all the world's nuclear power plants," the Bulgarian Minister declared.

"Following the highest safety standards is crucial for the development of the (nuclear) sector after the Fukushima event. However, targets impossible for completion should not be set, as that would the technical and commercial development of the nuclear energy," Traikov stated.

Following the Fukushima nuclear meltdown caused by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11 2011, EU leaders decided to recommend that member states carry out voluntary stress tests on all their nuclear power plants.

Since March 22 2011, stress tests have been carried out at the Kozloduy NPP, which include hazards such as technical emergencies, human errors, terror attacks and others.