OREANDA-NEWS. February 8, 2008. The Bulgarian nuclear power engineers came to adopt the positive experience of Volgodonsk NPP in planning, organizing and conducting preventive maintenance campaigns.

The guests familiarized themselves with the plant’s standard documentation, methods for control of equipment, schedules of maintenance campaigns, operations with spent nuclear fuel, the system of interaction among departments and contractor organizations and were instructed on a number of questions related to the maintenance of equipment and the operation of safety systems.

Special attention was given to the plant’s work to enhance the capacity of its 1st unit by 4%. The chief engineer of Volgodonsk NPP A.Salnikov said that for that purpose they planned a number of technical measures and were going to carry them out during the next planned repair.

Presently, Kozloduy NPP is implementing a five-year modernization program with a view to raise its capacity by 4%. The two units of the plant produce over 25% of electricity in Bulgaria and have a big role in the economy of that country. The guests said that the experience of Volgodonsk NPP would help them in solving their own problems.

The guests showed high interest in the construction of the 2nd unit. As you may know, presently, Russia and Bulgaria are cooperating under the project to build Belene NPP in Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian specialists met with their colleagues from the reactor, turbine and decontamination departments and visited the centralized repair workshops to see them at work. 

The chief technologist of Kozloduy NPP Atanas Atanasov said: “Our visit to Volgodonsk Nuclear Power Plant was very fruitful. You have a very clean plant and experienced workers, real professionals. They have answered all of our questions. They interact very efficiently under the professional hand of their chief engineer. And all of them realize their responsibility for each stage of the work they do.”

The Bulgarian specialists invited their colleagues to visit Kozloduy to exchange experience of replacement of turbine condensers made of anti-rust materials.

Kozloduy NPP has been built under a Soviet-time project. It is situated on the bank of Danube River 200 km from Sofia and 5 km from Kozloduy. The construction of the plant was started in 1970. In 1974 the plant was working at a capacity of 220MW. In 1991–2002 the plant had six units with a total capacity of 3,760MW and produced over 45% of electricity in Bulgaria. In 2003–2006, as EU membership candidate, Bulgaria was forced to shut down the first four units of the plant. The remaining two 1,000MW units were modernized in 2005–2006 and meet all the safety requirements of the EU.