Westinghouse delivered the first cartridges with fresh nuclear fuel for VVER-1000 type reactors in Bulgaria

In April, Westinghouse Electric Company began delivering the first fuel cartridges for VVER-1000 type reactors to Kozloduy NPP, marking a key moment in the diversification of nuclear fuel supplies in Bulgaria. The loading of the new fuel into the fifth unit of the Kozloduy NPP was celebrated today at an official event attended by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Bulgaria Dimitar Glavchev, the Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov and the US Ambassador to Bulgaria Kenneth Merten. This was announced by the energy company today.

Westinghouse and Kozloduy NPP signed a 10-year contract for the supply of nuclear fuel in December 2022. Kozloduy NPP Unit Five will use RWFA-type nuclear fuel for VVER-1000 reactors, for which it has over ten years of real-life operational experience with many high operational safety indicators at several Ukrainian nuclear power plants. The first delivery is carried out after a thorough and detailed nuclear fuel licensing process - the result of the joint efforts of the Kozloduy NPP and Westinghouse, supported by the Bulgarian engineering company ENPRO Consult, which carried out part of the safety analyzes and other activities related to the licensing of nuclear fuel. The nuclear fuel is produced at the company's plant in Sweden.

"We are thrilled to have achieved diversification of nuclear fuel supplies for Unit 5," said Valentin Nikolov, Executive Director of Kozloduy NPP. "This is a key element of our strategy as we strive to maintain the high performance of our plant and ensure safe, reliable and affordable energy for Bulgaria and the region."

"Kozloduy NPP celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2024, and we are pleased to contribute to the diversification of nuclear fuel supplies for this valued customer of ours with this first charge," said Tarik Choho, President of the Nuclear Fuel Division” at Westinghouse. "We look forward to building on our long-term partnership with Kozloduy NPP, making significant progress on the opportunity to build two new units with Westinghouse's AP1000® technology at this site."

Kozloduy NPP is the only nuclear power plant in Bulgaria. The fifth and sixth power units have a total installed capacity of 2GW and supply approximately one third of the country's electricity. These units have been upgraded to extend their service life by 30 years each.