SOFIA, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Bulgarian Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova on Tuesday turned the first sod on the construction of the first National Radioactive Waste Repository (NRWR), officials said.
"The construction of the NRWR is a prerequisite for the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria," Petkova said, as quoted by her press office.
The warehouse would be built according to all international standards, and become one of the most modern such facilities in Europe, Petkova said during the ceremony, which was held near Bulgaria's only nuclear power plant (NPP) Kozloduy on the bank of the Danube river.
The press office said the facility is designed for the storage of radioactive waste generated on the territory of Bulgaria like low and intermediate radioactive level waste from industry, medicine and households, as well as wastes generated during the decommissioning of the first four reactors of Kozloduy NPP.
"No high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel will be stored in the NRWR," it said.
The capacity of the facility, which is expected to become operational in 2021, is 138,200 cubic meters, with a service life of 60 years.
The state-owned Kozloduy NPP has six reactors but only two of them, 1,000 MW each, are in operation. The other four 440-MW units were shut down in 2002 and 2006 as one of the conditions for Bulgaria's accession to the European Union.
