New plasma melting plant opens at Bulgaria's nuclear power site
Bulgaria has opened a new plasma melting plant that will treat and dispose of radioactive waste at its Kozloduy nuclear power plant, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday.
The 31 million euros ($36 million)
facility will significantly reduce the volume of low and intermediate-level
radioactive waste from Kozloduy’s two Soviet-made 1,000 megawatt units as well
as from the four smaller reactors that have been shut between 2002 and 2006.
The plasma plant, built by a
joint venture of Spain’s Iberdrola and Belgium’s Belgoprocess, has a capacity
up to 250 tonnes per year, the EBRD said. It can also retreat historical
radioactive waste, which can make the new technology potentially widely
applicable beyond Kozloduy, EBRD said.
Last year, Bulgaria started
the construction of a national depot for long-term radioactive waste that
should become operational in 2021.
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Source: Reuters