Bulgaria has started the construction of a radioactive waste depot near its sole nuclear power plant Kozloduy, the energy ministry said on August 29.

Construction of the repository will help with the decommissioning of four Soviet-era nuclear reactors at Kozloduy.

In July 2016, the country signed a BGN140mn (€72mn) contract with a consortium comprising German-based Nukem Technologies, controlled by Russia’s state nuclear company Atomstroyexport, and four Bulgarian companies for the first stage of the national radioactive waste repository.

“The construction of the national radioactive waste depository is extremely important for the development of nuclear energy in Bulgaria,” Energy Minister Temenuzhka Petkova was quoted as saying in a statement at the official ceremony marking the start of the project.

The facility should become operational by 2021. The project is financed with a grant from the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund (KIDSF) administered by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The EBRD and representatives of the European Commission will monitor the implementation.

The repository will have a capacity of 138,200 cubic metres, and is planned to be used over the following 60 years.

The KIDSF was created in 1999 under a memorandum of understanding between Bulgaria and the European Commission, which committed the Balkan country to close and decommission units 1-4 of the Kozloduy NPP. The fund, managed by the EBRD, supports the decommissioning activities and assists in the necessary restructuring of Bulgaria's energy sector.