The Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) issued a permit to the Kozloduy NPP for a phased transition to a new type of nuclear fuel RWFA for the fifth unit, manufactured by the Westinghouse company. The process of switching to the new type of fuel will last four years, according to the NRA.
In connection with the current and subsequent regulatory control carried out by the NRA, the issued permit contains a number of conditions related to the transition to the new type of nuclear fuel. These include requirements both for making changes to the existing instructions and documents defining the activities with the new fuel, and for periodically providing additional information on the operation of the fuel and performing analyzes and taking additional measures in case the need arises.
The main part of the licensing process for the new nuclear fuel is related to the review and evaluation of the technical documents attached to the application for the issuance of a permit, in order to demonstrate the safety in operation of the new type of fuel.
During the licensing process, compliance of the information presented in over 75 fuel design reports and amended operational documents with applicable safety requirements and standards was assessed. As a result of the review of the documents, the NRA formulates and sends to the applicant questions, notes and requests for the presentation of additional information necessary to demonstrate the fulfillment of safety requirements. In response, new revisions to over 40 documents, as well as new reports related to the RWFA Fuel Safety Project and Assessment, were submitted for review.
In addition, a number of meetings were held with the Kozloduy NPP, the designer and fuel manufacturer, to discuss issues that arose during the review process, the Nuclear Regulatory Agency adds.
Tags: nuclear fuel produced Westinghouse licensed Kozloduy NPP
