site.btaRussian Nuclear Fuel to Hungary and Other EU Countries Transited via Bulgaria Repeatedly since End-2022

Bulgaria has been a country of transit of nuclear fuel since the end of 2022. This transpired from the Nuclear Regulatory Agency's answers to a list of questions from BTA and information in the NRA public register, following a Facebook post by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

In his message on November 8, after meeting with Romanian Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja, Szijjarto said that nuclear fuel for the Paks Nuclear Power Plant in Hungary was being transited via Bulgaria and Romania. The plant was using nuclear fuel originating in Russia. Szijjarto specified that the fuel was being shipped by ferry from Russia to Bulgaria.

After the Hungarian Foreign Minister's remarks, BTA asked NRA to provide details. NRA is the Bulgarian national authority tasked by the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy Act to issue permits for the transit of nuclear material through the country. In its answers to BTA, signed by NRA President Tsanko Bachiiski, the regulator said it had issued permits for transit of nuclear material to Hungary in 2022 and 2023 in accordance with Article 15, Paragraph 4, Item 17 of the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy Act.

According to information from the NRA register, the first of seven such permits was granted at the end of 2022. Further details from the register show that nuclear fuel was being transited via Bulgaria not only to Hungary but also to other EU member states.

The permits were received by a company headquartered in Sofia.

NRA wrote to BTA that the latest transit of nuclear material to Hungary was carried out in the fourth quarter of 2023. The regulator has not received a request for further transit of nuclear material.

A fee of BGN 300,000 is charged on each transit shipment.