Stress tests of Kozloduy NPP showed stability

published on 11/16/11 1:42 PM

The Kozloduy NPP is the most often checked up plant in Europe

Photo: Tania Harizanova

The Kozloduy NPP can resist natural disasters, such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes and severe weather conditions. The plant can survive industrial accidents, terrorist attacks, a fallen plane etc. Those were the results from the stress tests of the plant’s nuclear facilities. They were presented to diplomats from 15 embassies and journalists during a workshop, held at the nuclear power plant.

A workshop, held at the nuclear power plant presented diplomats with the resilts of the stress tests

The testing of all the 143 NPPs in Europe was suggested by the EC after the breakdown of the Japanese Fukushima NPP. “We want to be sure that all security standards in Europe are equal and are followed with no exceptions,” European Commissioner for Energy Gunther Oettinger said. On the other hand the International Atomic Energy Agency /IAEA/ declared that one of each three NPPs worldwide will be checked over the next three years.

“Nuclear industry is essential for the development of the economy of both Bulgaria and the entire region,” Chair of Bulgarian Atomic Forum Bogomil Manchev underlined during the workshop. A deficit of over 5,000 MW of electricity will be observed across the Balkans over the next two decades, experts say. At the same time natural gas is a really unreliable resource – its price is constantly going up and thus lifestyle becomes more expensive. However, the Fukushima events caused a high-level “tsunami”, caused by fears for the sector of nuclear energy.

“Some states were shocked by the problems in Fukushima and unfortunately the decisions for getting out of this industry were purely political. And we are simply talking about economy here,” Mr. Manchev commented at a roundtable, organized at the Kozloduy NPP. “I think that these decisions will be changed in the near future, since most of the countries re-confirmed their intentions to developed nuclear industry in a most accelerated manner. We are talking for Bulgaria, Turkey, Finland, the Czech Republic, France, Romania and others.”

“The Kozloduy NPP is one of the most frequently checked NPPs worldwide,” Director of the Plant Alexander Nikolov said and explained what stress tests were like.

“Earthquake, flood, extreme meteorological impacts, electrical breakdowns, serious industrial accidents – those are the main criteria. The units are designed to endure an earthquake measuring 8 on the Medvedev-Sponheuer-Karnik scale. Units 5 and 6 have three independent safety systems and each of those can secure the facility on its own. We have installed a 4th diesel station that can replace any safety system that is out of order.”

The stress tests of the Kozloduy NPP are developed for all its facilities – units 3,4,5,6 and the storage for spent fuel. “We followed the recommendations of the World Association of Nuclear Operators and the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group,” Head of Safety Department of the NPP Plamen Vassilev underlined. The recommendations of the international experts are mainly related to the preparation of a reaction plan in case of an accident at the Iron Gates waterpower system on the Danube River.

“Now we have raised the seismic resistance of the plant by 80 percent,” Mr. Vassilev goes on to say. “The latest analysis from 2010 shows that even if the worst scenario becomes reality – i.e. Iron Gate is thorn by an earthquake, the Danube is at its highest level, there are torrential rains and a huge wave is formed – the site of the Kozloduy NPP won’t be flooded. This guarantees the safety of the nuclear facilities.”

All European countries must present their national reports till December 31st 2011. International checks will follow over the next year.

English version: Zhivko Stanchev
Photos: provided by Tania Harizanova

По публикацията работи: Tania Harizanova

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Stress tests of Kozloduy NPP showed stability

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