Kozloduy is back after annual repair
SOFIA (Reuters) – Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power plant said yesterday it has switched back on a 440-megawatt unit after a planned annual maintenance. «The repair ended two days earlier than planned, the unit was filled with fresh fuel and all necessary repair works were implemented,» the plant said in a statement. The company said the reactor was working at 35 percent of its capacity and its power was gradually increasing. Kozloduy said two of its other three reactors, one 440-MW unit and one 1,000-MW, were working at maximum capacity. The other 1,000-MW unit is currently shut down for planned repair and is expected back online in September. Bulgaria has decommissioned two of its six Russian-designed reactors and has pledged to close the other two 440-MW units before it enters the EU, in 2007 at the earliest. The Balkan state plans to build a second 2,000-MW nuclear plant on the Danube River town of Belene by 2011 to make up for the decommissioned units and keep its position as southeast Europe’s leading power exporter.
