17 January 2003 - BNFL has won a £5m ($8.1m) contract for project management and engineering services for implementation of the decommissioning support activities at Kozloduy nuclear power plant in Bulgaria.

The contract was awarded to BNFL Environmental Services by Kozloduy nuclear power plant, under the Kozloduy International Decommissioning Support Fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), to assist Bulgaria with the decommissioning of two of the country's six nuclear reactors.

BNFL Environmental Services, with its consortium partner EDF and local Bulgarian sub-contractor ENPRO, was short-listed for the contract from a tender list of 14 interested parties in March 2002.

The project will be implemented and financed over the next three years.
Commenting on the contract, Tim Cooper, General Manager Europe, BNFL Environmental Services, said: "The Kozloduy win is extremely important for us and is a clear demonstration of our capabilities and ambitions for this region. We have a long-term commitment to the Bulgarian market and now have an excellent foundation to continue our work here and develop further business in the future."

He added: "Key to our success in winning this high profile contract was the exceptional calibre of personnel we were able to dedicate to the project. For example, Bill Carnes, who will be project manager for Kozloduy, was on the Project Management Unit (PMU) for nuclear safety accounts at Chernobyl, as well as having worked on similar projects in Ukraine, South Korea, Philippines, Taiwan, Spain and North America. And more recently Bill was project manager at the Farley 1 and 2 and the South Texas 2 nuclear power plants, with a total project budget of around $200m."

BNFL Environmental Services will be working with EdF at Kozloduy, bringing together the powerful combination of BNFL's nuclear services expertise and EdF's utility knowledge. Tim Cooper said:"Both are committed members of the nuclear industry and between the two companies there is a vast breadth and depth of technical knowledge and experience that can be called on. The joint experiences of decommissioning we have cover virtually all of the different reactor types in the world.

"Both companies have worked on the PWR type reactors that are used at Kozloduy, and both teams were involved in managing PMU projects at Chernobyl. In addition to this partnership, the ENPRO consultants form a very important part of our team given their own decommissioning experience and their knowledge and understanding of Kozloduy and Bulgarian standards and regulations."