Bulgaria signed: now they will buy nuclear fuel outside of Russia

Bulgaria’s only nuclear power plant, Kozloduy, with the aim of diversifying its energy supply, signed an agreement to purchase nuclear fuel with the Swedish branch of the American company Westinghouse Electric.

Bulgarian Energy Minister Rossen Hirstov said the 10-year agreement with the US company will allow the purchase of nuclear fuel to remain normal in “uncertain” periods.

Noting that a similar agreement will be made with the French company Framatome to feed the plant’s 6th unit, Minister Hirstov affirmed that the agreement is in the preparation stage.

Hirstov said that with Framatome, Russia will be provided with two different sources for the country’s energy needs and the process of ensuring “full diversity and security” of energy supply will be completed.

The Kozloduy nuclear power plant previously received fuel from the Russian company Rosatom for its two Russian-made VVER-1000 nuclear reactors, which supply around a third of Bulgaria’s electricity needs.

Relying on Russian gas and nuclear fuel, Bulgaria decided to diversify its energy supply after the Russian-Ukrainian war. (AA)