Bulgaria's Cabinet has decided to place units 1 and 2 of the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant under the management of State Company "Radioactive Waste".

The news was announced by the state company on Thursday, and the decision itself was made on Tuesday, during the last sitting of the Cabinet for 2010.

The 440-MW Soviet-era reactors 1 and 2 of the Kozloduy NPP were shut down in 2002 on EU insistence (Units 3 and 4, which are of the same type, were turned off in 2006, leaving the Kozloduy plant only with two 1000-MW reactors in operation.)

In October 2010, Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulation Agency declared units 1 and 2 of Kozloduy NPP for radioactive waste facilities.

In addition to the two inactive reactors, State Company "Radioactive Waste" has now gotten to manage a nuclear waste facility at Novi Han.

In the meantime, the Bulgarian government is working on the construction of a national storage facility for low- and medium-grade nuclear waste produced by industrial, medical, and scientific operations.

It should start operation in 2015, and will be located in the village of Harlets, close to the town of Kozloduy.

In 2011, the Bulgarian government is expected to adopt a new strategy for processed nuclear fuel including a plan to dispose of and store high-grade nuclear waste from the Kozloduy plant.

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