Bulgaria approves derogation for Russian parts at Kozloduy NPP

Bulgaria has approved a derogation to allow us to buy the materials, spare parts and services we need for Kozloduy NPP during scheduled annual repairs. This was announced at a briefing by Energy Minister Rosen Hristov after the Council of Ministers today.

This is a derogation under a European regulation, which affects Russian manufacturers and services working on materials and activities related to the Bulgarian nuclear power plant.

"This is a 2014 Regulation, which especially after 2021 has been revised and supplemented with penalty packages and for parts of these supplements we now need a derogation when planned annual repair campaigns are coming up," Deputy Energy Minister Elenko Bozhkov explained to Economic.bg.

The decision does not affect Russian nuclear companies Rosatom and TVEL, which is responsible for fuel supplies, including to Bulgaria.

"These are not companies that are directly related to nuclear energy, but rather scientific and applied units or scientific institutes," he said, adding that we use them for nuclear energy, which is why the derogation is needed.

With this derogation, the aim is to ensure that the planned annual repairs and the operation of the plant are carried out normally. These are materials, services and parts for which we have not yet found alternative suppliers.

An example of such equipment is the metal samples that are in the reactor's radiation zone and are periodically sent for analysis to a specialised institute in Russia, which provided them to us originally and we now have to remove them, which requires a derogation.

"We are exporting them so that they can analyse in Russia what is happening to these samples and to the metal lattice as a result of the irradiation to which the entire reactor vessel is subjected. So that we don't cut from the reactor to see what happens, these samples stay in the reactor compartment and are used and then analysed," he explained.

The waiver also allows the import of iron and steel products from Russia in the performance of contracts also listed in an annex to today's decision. The import of other goods from Russia and related technical assistance necessary for the execution of contracts under the said annexes will also be possible.

Bozhkov added that the derogation applies for the duration of the contracts with the respective suppliers of goods and services. "It is valid for the duration of the contracts, which are the most different," Bozhkov explained.

The derogation is requested against the European regulation and is subject to verification or sanction if it does not meet the conditions, the deputy energy minister added.

"These are sanctions according to a European regulation, which if you prove they are unique and it is approved, it is proof from the Council of Ministers and the EU cannot have any objections."

So there is no direct ruling from the EU, but there is monitoring.

The reason such an exception is necessary for Bulgaria is that these parts and equipment for the Kozloduy NPP were made using Russian technology, and their nature requires that they be checked and analysed again in the country concerned.

"We are continuing the process of selecting new contractors so that in the long term we have absolute certainty. We have not found alternative suppliers, we are continuing the process of selecting new contractors so that in the long term we have absolute certainty. The other area we are working on is re-supplying these materials and parts," Hristov explained, adding that this also ensures the country's energy security.

According to Hristov, the approval of this exception for Bulgaria is critical for the security of our nuclear plant.