OREANDA-NEWS. August 10, 2011. Atomstroyexport, a ROSATOM company, submitted a complete set of responses to expert recommendations on Belene NPP engineering design to the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency, reported the press-centre of ROSATOM.

After a review of the Belene engineering design, the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (BNRA) produced 114 recommendations to be addressed before the engineering design approval. Atomstroyexport provided answers to all questions of BNRA’s interest.

In January 2010, the Technical Board of the National Electricity Company of Bulgaria (NEC EAD) approved the Belene engineering design including the Interim Safety Analysis Report (ISAR) and Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA). After the approval the documents were submitted to BNRA for review.

In September 2010, BNRA, experts from the European company Riskaudit, Bulgarian consultant ENPRO Consult Ltd. and Russian specialists held a discussion of the Interim Safety Analysis Report.

In October 2010 in Sofia, an IPSART mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), jointly with experts from BNRA, NEC EAD, Worley Parsons and Russian organizations
reviewed the Probabilistic Safety Analysis of Belene NPP.

On the whole, experts from Bulgaria, Russia, Germany, the USA, the United Kingdom, South Africa, as well as the IAEA, were involved in the comprehensive review of the Russian design. The expert concluded that the Belene project pertains to the new Generation III+ nuclear power plants and ensures a much higher level of safety that corresponds to all international requirements. The Russian design has been acknowledged as compliant with all technical requirements of EUR set forth for NPPs with light-water reactors of the new generation.