Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania 'Can Be Centers of Excellence for Nuclear Decommissioning'

Bulgaria, Slovakia and Lithuania have the chance to become centers of excellence and nuclear decommissioning experience if they manage to decommission their closed nuclear units in a timely manner and complying with the envisaged costs, a European Bank for Reconstruction Development (EBRD) official has said.

Vince Novak, Director of the Nuclear Safety Department at the EBRD, has told participants at the Central & Eastern Europe Nuclear Decommissioning and Waste Management Conference 2016 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The conference, of which Novinite is a media partner, is being held on December 08-09.

Decommissioning offers a huge task ahead of the nuclear community and

"there is stil much room for improvement and cost efficiency in decommissioning know how,"

Mr Novak, chairing the conference panels, has noted.

The EBRD, with 65 governments and organizations listed as shareholders, is the only international financial institution with a nuclear safety mandate. Since 2001, it has included international decommissioning support funds for Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia.

What brings the three countries together is the fact that all are due to decommission their plants under an agreement reached between their governments and Brussels as part of their EU accession negotiations back in the 1990s and 2000s.

Bulgaria in particular shut down four (Units 1-4) of the six units of its Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP), the first two in 2003 and the secound couple in 2006. Decommissioning activities are to be carried through by 2030.

In the case of Lithuania, both units of the Ignalina NPP were closed at the end of 2004 and 2009 respectively. In Slovakia, EU accession has triggered the deactivation of two...