Rosatom Service, subsidiary of Russian stateowned nuclear company Rosatom, issued a statement in which it said that the company has completed the upgrade of unit 5 at Bulgarian nuclear power plant Kozloduy, as a part of the project for lifespan extension of units 5 and 6.
The 360 million euros worth project for the upgrade of NPP Kozloduy’s two 1,000 MW reactors is aimed at the extension of its operational life by additional 30 years, thus avoiding the unpopular increase in electricity prices.
In October 2014, NPP Kozloduy confirmed it had signed the contract for the second phase of the project for extension of the operational life of the unit 5 (1,000 MW) with the consortium of Rosatom Services, Rosenergoatom and EDF. The aim of the contract is the extension of the safe operational of the unit 5 up to 60 years, i.e. by another 30 years. The operational license of unit 5 is due to expire in 2017, while the license for unit 6 is due to expire in 2019.
Originally, NPP Kozloduy had six reactors, but four older 440 MW reactors were shut down in 2007 due to nuclear safety concern of the European Union. The plant currently operates two Soviet-built 1,000 MW reactors, unit 5 and unit 6 which were commissioned in 1987 and 1991 respectively, transmits Serbia-energy.eu