"Who and why allowed Unit Five to be refueled with another nuclear fuel? Since these contracts were signed, was anyone aware that the old nuclear fuel for Unit Five is 48, six more than the new nuclear fuel for Unit Six, which is 42? Which means we have more spent nuclear fuel. That is, we have a huge percent more spent nuclear fuel. Everyone is aware that the American side - Westinghouse, does not undertake any commitment for spent nuclear fuel. How are these contracts signed, first with old energy resources such as in the Fifth Block? What is this madness we are witnessing? You were not a minister at that time, but who is the one who committed such national betrayal to the interests of the Republic of Bulgaria?"
With these words, the chairman of the PG of the BSP for Bulgaria addressed the Minister of Energy Vladimir Malinov" Borislav Gutsanov during Malinov's hearing in the National Assembly.
Gutsanov said that the announced topic of the hearing - about the place of storage of the spent nuclear fuel is the last link in the huge problems that can befall our nuclear power industry. He asked the most important questions in his opinion:
"Has anyone considered that we have more fuel cartridges, more spent nuclear fuel, with no commitments from the Westinghouse supplier country? What were the experiments in the Czech Republic and Ukraine with the refueling of such refueling? I'm just saying this in advance, get ready because this is a national betrayal that we are witnessing right now."
According to the socialist, today's hearing is due to long-term incompetence, greed, servitude, related to energy and especially nuclear energy. He recalled that from 2019 there are two contracts. One of them for 1.5 million, the second for 5 million, paid by Kozloduy NPP to Westinghouse. One - to prove that their nuclear fuel can be used, and the second, that nuclear fuel is safe, which is absurd. The Bulgarian state pays a private company to prove that their fuel can be used, and there is no such case in the world.
"Apparently the pressure is quite high to have another nuclear fuel delivered. The fifth unit began to gradually load with the new cartridges. Why wasn't the Fifth Unit repaired - to be able to use this nuclear fuel, for which Westinghouse does not produce the new cartridges, but only the old cartridges. Therefore, the Fifth Block is loaded with 48 cartridges, and the Sixth - with 42 cartridges. From this difference of 6 cassettes, Bulgaria's loss will be 750 million euros. Is this a lot or a little for poor Bulgaria?", Borislav Gutsanov presented the situation in numbers.
He pointed out that 20 percent of nuclear fuel from Russia is used in Europe, and about 15 percent from the United States, and that there is no ban on this.
"We are the only country that voluntarily wonders how to make our electricity more expensive. Our goal is not just to build the Belene NPP, not to build the Seventh and Eighth blocks of Kozloduy to have them, but to make cheaper electricity for the Bulgarians. And to have more profit for electricity export, if any. With these decisions, with which a part of the people's representatives turned themselves into nuclear physicists, we are making the problem even bigger, electricity more expensive, and greater dependence on Bulgaria," Borislav Gutsanov addressed the hall. He pointed out that the authors of these decisions got things fundamentally wrong. And he began his question in substance:
"I will only talk about safety, because it directly affects each one of us, Bulgaria and the surrounding countries. With this charge, the neutron fluence is one order of magnitude higher! One order! Who will take responsibility and sign off on the aging and breakdown of the metal? Is there anyone who is not aware that loading with such cartridges in the Czech Republic and Ukraine is not particularly successful? It comes to 10 depressurized cartridges of 48. Which means an automatic increase in radiation. On the one hand, the Fifth and Sixth blocks have a term of 30 years, it expires. Who is the one who will sign the things? Who is this constructor, they are Russian constructors, where will they put their signatures? Was there pressure on the independent Nuclear Regulatory Agency in Bulgaria to take these cartridges with another nuclear fuel?"
The chairman of the PG of "BSP for Bulgaria" once again called on Minister Malinov to pay attention to this particular safety problem: First - to the higher order of neutron fluence and the aging of the metal. And the fact that the steam generator of the Sixth Block, which is constantly out of order, can be seen as a child's toy compared to what can happen to the Sixth Block itself.
"Does something serious need to be done in order to understand that people's representatives cannot pretend to be nuclear physicists. In order not to be late and not to comment on things in a different way in this room", concluded Borislav Gutsanov.