OREANDA-NEWS. In March 2015, representatives of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant visited Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant.

"The purpose of our visit is acceptance of fresh nuclear fuel for Kozloduy NPP," says Ivan Stoyanov, a chief nuclear fuel expert at Kozloduy NPP. "The task is not new for me – it is my seventh visit to the plant and I am always happy to work with our NCCP colleagues. Our partnership is of mutual benefit."

Although regular, the current visit of Bulgarian nuclear experts is special ¬as this time they accept the first shipment of modernized fuel assemblies.

"The fuel assemblies we are accepting now have been upgraded, with assembly heads modernized at our request," says Ivan Stoyanov. "We have a fuel acceptance program and a quality plan describing each step of the acceptance procedure. We inspect the whole cycle starting from the production of pellets, rods and cladding, and accept fuel heads, bottom nozzles and the entire fuel assembly. We pay special attention to quality assurance procedures followed both by NCCP and our representatives from VPO ZAES. The most important for us is that the fuel quality remains as high as it is today. Of course, we give attention to every detail, with a special focus on welds and general quality control."