The US Trade & Development Agency USTDA has signed two grant agreements to support Bulgarian nuclear projects as part of a raft of agreements aimed at advancing Bulgaria’s infrastructure, energy, and cybersecurity capabilities. One supports a cost-shared feasibility study with US company Deep Isolation to investigate underground disposal of used fuel from Bulgaria’s NPPs. The other supports a prefeasibility study for the deployment of small modular reactor (SMR) technology.
Deep Isolation will undertake a study to evaluate the feasibility of disposing used fuel from existing and future NPPs a kilometre or more below ground using its deep borehole technology. The agreement was signed by USTDA Director Enoh Ebong and Sergey Tzochev, Head of the Board of Directors of Bulgaria’s State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (DPRAO – Drzhavno Predpriyatne Radioaktivni Otpadtsi). “Partnering with Deep Isolation represents a step toward our long-term vision of exploring innovative and sustainable approaches for the safe management of radioactive waste, based on the latest advancements in science and technology, ” Tzochev said.
“Using cutting-edge US technology to create a safe long-term disposal option for spent fuel can also open the door to additional plants being built,” Ebong said. “USTDA’s support for this project is a continuation of our longstanding engagement with the country’s nuclear energy sector.”
Rod Baltzer, CEO of Deep Isolation said he was grateful to USTDA “for the financial support it has offered to this initiative, in recognition of the high-value jobs and export opportunities that deep borehole disposal will create for our US supply chain”.
The second grant agreement was signed with state-owned Bulgaria Energy Holding (BEH) for a detailed technical analysis of US-sourced SMR design options to support Bulgaria’s planned deployment of one or more SMR nuclear plants. USTDA said the project will provide BEH with a comprehensive analysis of potential US SMR configurations, identify suitable locations for deployment, and create an implementation roadmap. “USTDA’s study will be crucial for the application of the new SMR energy technology in Bulgaria,” said Vladimir Malinov, Energy Minister in Bulgaria’s caretaker government.
BEH owns the main electricity generation facilities in Bulgaria, including the Kozloduy NPP, where two new Westinghouse AP1000 units are planned, and the electricity and gas transmission grids. In 2021, BEH signed a memorandum of understanding with US engineering firm Fluor to investigate replacing coal boilers with NuScale SMRs.
