Licensing of nuclear facilities according to the Bulgarian Act on the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy

The new Bulgarian Act on the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy /Nuclear Act/ has replaced the former Act on the Use of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes. The new Nuclear Act covers the activities involving nuclear energy and sources of ionising radiation mainly by establishing a consistent licensing regime. About 13 regulations specifying the provisions of the Nuclear Act have been recently adopted by the Council of Ministers, the most important one being the Regulation on the Procedure for Issue of Licenses and Permits for the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy. The Chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency (NRA) is authorised by the law to consider any application for issue of a license or a permit under the Bulgarian Nuclear Act. The procedure starts with an application, filed with the NRA, and continues about nine months. The final decision could be for issuing of the license or permit or a refusal for issuing the claimed document. The denial must be grounded and is subject to appeal. The Nuclear Act prescribes the conditions for issuing of two types of licensing documents (authorisations): licenses and permits. From a legal point of view the two types of licensing documents have one and the same nature - they are individual administrative acts according to the Bulgarian law. That is why there is no difference between them in terms of the issuing procedure. The difference between licenses and permits could be explained as follows: while a license is issued for reiterated activities, a permit is issued for non-reoccurring activities, this division being a specific feature of the Bulgarian Nuclear Act. In the field of nuclear facilities usage only one type of license is provided for by the Nuclear Act - a license for operation of a nuclear facility unit. For the rest of the activities issuing of permits is envisaged, those permits being in compliance with the main stages of the authorisation process formulated by the IAEA, following the step-by-step approach - siting, design, construction, commissioning and decommissioning. The process of up-dating the Bulgarian legislation in the nuclear safety area has already been finalised. A completely new procedure of licensing of 'Belene' NPP must be followed, in accordance with the updated legal framework, evaluated as compatible with the internationally recognised standards. The IRRT mission, held in the Republic of Bulgaria in 2003, ascertained that 'Bulgaria has taken many steps to develop a system to secure effective, independent regulatory supervision of nuclear facilities.' (author)