radioactive

Radioactive Issues

Interview with Petar Kardzhilov in the weekly publicistic program “Honestly with Lyuba Kulezich” on Eurocom TV, 06.03.2025 (uploaded to the Eurocom TV website on 07.03.2025).

Lyuba Kulezich: Petar Kardzhilov is here, you know him very well, he is a specialist in communications during risks and crises, one of the most consistent advocates for the right to freedom of Desislava Ivancheva and Bilyana Petrova – the infamous mayors of Mladost, who were thrown in prison for corruption. But the topic for which I invited him here tonight is a paradoxical title, which is his work, and which made me understand that within the Kozloduy NPP there is a nuclear waste storage facility – a topic that is extremely painful, not very popular in the public eye. But this same facility sells honey. Honey! Honey, in the sense of eating – bee honey! I could not understand anything from this insane contradiction. And that is why I invited him to explain it to me. Colleague Kardzhilov, what does this mean? Are we storing nuclear waste, are we producing honey at the nuclear waste storage facility? What is actually happening?

Petar Kardzhilov: Thank you very much for the invitation, dear Mrs. Kulezich! We are talking about the State Enterprise “Radioactive Waste”, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Energy, is not part of the Kozloduy NPP, but there are two of the main units on the Kozloduy NPP site, the other is the repository in Novi Han. In general, according to the Law on the Safe Use of Nuclear Energy… But, first, I must clarify here that I have been dealing with the topics of transparency and safety in nuclear energy as a doctor of public communication in risks and crises long before I became a PR in the Mladost region, and I am currently in an organization for transparency in nuclear energy, which was created after Fukushima.

Lyuba Kulezich: It is an international organization.

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, the international Nuclear Transparency Watch. We search, find and report information that is not discussed in the media regarding nuclear power plants and nuclear energy. Such information is, for example, the level of radiation protection and the preparation of citizens for responding to crisis situations in individual countries, for example, a major accident at a nuclear power plant with increased radioactivity in the environment. Other such topics are the management of radioactive waste and the construction of new or the lifetime extension of the operating existing nuclear units.

Lyuba Kulezich: Why was it necessary for you to submit a request under the Access to Information Act to the Ministry of Energy regarding this problem – the storage of radioactive waste? Where is this problem in our country? Why is it not being talked about? What is this honey? I tell you again: I rarely encounter culinary-radioactive combinations as a common theme.

 Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, indeed. Well, this is the well-known, so-called “green washing” – when you try to account for some activity to the public, but you simply use some completely different “green” activities. If it were this honey festival, which has existed for sixteen years…

Lyuba Kulezich: …Within this enterprise?

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, they are the main organizer and it is organized in their information center in the city of Kozloduy. If it were, let’s say, some kind of form that would attract citizens and explain to them what categories of radioactive waste exist, how long they are active and how high their activity is; for some isotopes it is about millions, even billions of years. They must be kept isolated from the environment in order for future generations to be safe. These issues are not explained, neither at the honey festival in question – as can be seen from the announcement on the website of the SE RW, nor on the website itself in separate sections with photos, etc. There are other questions in my request for information, for example, why the previous minister signed a contract with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for a study on deep drilling for the disposal of radioactive waste…

Lyuba Kulezich: Are you talking about Vladimir Malinov?

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, Vladimir Malinov. And when in the strategy that we are appealing with Eng. Petar Penchev – Strategy for RWM in Bulgaria, updated version from the beginning of 2024. We are appealing it because it has not been discussed with society, with organizations, with active citizens like us and because of many existing vices. It is written in it that Bulgaria must build a deep geological repository – for the most dangerous part of the RW, which is the SNF, which, as we know, has been piling up since the beginning of the war in Ukraine at the Kozloduy NPP site.

Lyuba Kulezich: You know this, people don’t.

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, it is generally published in some more serious media and websites, but they are hardly read by many people. Our mass media talk about Russian reactors, American reactors, what the price is, what the fuel is, how Bulgaria will almost perish without the production of electricity from NPP, which is not the case at all. But they never talk about these messes, these series of interconnected problems, such as radioactive waste, the preparation of citizens for a reaction in the event of a serious accident. By the way, we did a study three years ago with the Foundation for Environment and Agriculture of Mrs. Albena Simeonova and we came to the conclusion that the people in Kozloduy have no idea at all what to do after the sirens are sounded and they are announced…

Lyuba Kulezich: The people in Kozloduy?!

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, the people in the city of Kozloduy, as we surveyed in two more cities and four villages around the Kozloduy NPP.

Lyuba Kulezich: But nobody knows? In an emergency situation?!

Petar Kardzhilov: Nobody knows, except for 5% of all 120 respondents we surveyed. And the respondents were from the Kozloduy hospital, two schools in the city, as well as municipal employees from these seven settlements.

Lyuba Kulezich: Okay, but you started talking about the idea of ​​the previous Energy Minister Malinov for burying RW…

Petar Kardzhilov: …Through deep drilling – deep borehole disposal…

Lyuba Kulezich: With a contract concluded with the US Chamber of Commerce. What is wrong with that?

Petar Kardzhilov: Well, the wrong thing is that a technology that is presented as modern and is only briefly mentioned in this strategy that we are appealing – for the management of radioactive waste and spent fuel, given that this is an American technology invented in the 1970s, which we now know has been categorically rejected in four US states. And right now, this company is looking for a guinea pig to drill for RW.

Lyuba Kulezich: But is that already a fact or is that why you are asking the new minister Zhecho Stankov?

Petar Kardzhilov: That’s why I ask the new minister how far this project has come, are such studies being conducted, by whom and where. And in the end…

Lyuba Kulezich: Nobody knows anything!

Petar Kardzhilov: …why nobody knows anything about these issues that affect generations in the future, hundreds of generations in the future.

Lyuba Kulezich: And how can people, citizens, understand the different types of RW that our plant releases? Where are they stored? What are the dangers? Are there any? How can they be prevented? Who takes care of the export of this NF, if there is an export of such fuel?

Petar Kardzhilov: There is no more export, because the war in Ukraine has started, only the glazed highly active and long-lived radioactive isotopes will be returned to us. Well, people certainly could not understand these important questions either from the website of the SE RW, or from the website of the Nuclear Regulatory Agency, let alone from the website of the Kozloduy NPP. There is no such information anywhere. One must be a specialist, handle documents, educate oneself with great effort and spend hours on the Internet to reach these conclusions, which most of the media, the mass media never explain to us and offer to our attention, because they clearly have no interest.

Lyuba Kulezich: Why not? I was just going to ask you, you are a member of an international organization for transparency in nuclear energy. With this silence, this shady behavior regarding such a key issue, of three institutions. What do you think is the reason for this? Is it just negligence?

Petar Kardzhilov: No, not just negligence. It is a matter of a mess. The mess in nuclear energy is the opposite of the system. A system, for example, an automobile plant, works in transparent ways, nothing is hidden there. While in nuclear energy, all the problems that are interconnected and interdependent must remain a secret. Because if everything is public, questions will begin about our money. Because, as Prof. Kaschiev announced…

Lyuba Kulezich: Georgi Kaschiev, yes.

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, Prof. Georgi Kaschiev, who was the chairman of the first nuclear regulatory body in Bulgaria. He calculated that for 2023, Kozloduy NPP spent 320 million leva more on electricity production compared to 2020, 2021 and 2022.

Lyuba Kulezich: What does this mean?

Petar Kardzhilov: Well, this is another of the questions I asked Minister Stankov, since an inspection has begun at the Kozloduy NPP, as they briefly announced “due to suspicions of financial abuse”. I asked Mr. Stankov, according to the Access to Public Information Act, to report at least what the Kozloduy NPP’s accounting says. Where does this overspending for electricity production come from? It can’t possibly be from changing the fuel from Russian to American, even though the American is more expensive, but that happened last year – 2024. Also, I can’t imagine this overspending being from cleaning up and limiting the damage from the incident that occurred with the spill of radioactive water with boric acid last year – the end of May.

Lyuba Kulezich: In Unit Six.

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes, that’s right. Now, in the management of Kozloduy NPP, as well as of SE RW, there are some people… Over the past few years, several executive directors have changed at the plant. Galab Donev, first of all, the acting prime minister of President Radev, appointed Georgi Kirkov as executive director, and Andrey Krasnocharov as deputy executive director. This man, as it became known from the media, was investigated by a commission at Kozloduy NPP, which revealed how he manipulated data so that the oligarch from Pernik city, Lyudmil Stoykov, could win orders awarded by Kozloduy NPP. And, this same Mr. Krasnocharov is still the deputy executive director today, even after the replacement of three executive directors.

Lyuba Kulezich: Many questions, many questions, a whole bunch of questions that are crucially important to get an answer to. When do you expect this answer, colleague Kardzhilov? When should you receive it? There are deadlines under the law on access to information.

Petar Kardzhilov: The deadline is basically one month, I submitted it last week on Thursday. Since there are other organisations, they may request an extension of two more weeks.

Lyuba Kulezich: But these answers are extremely important, we need to learn them, because they concern such terrible consequences if this problem is left like this, on its own. And you mentioned something in our preliminary conversation about the nurse Natalia Stancheva.

Petar Kardzhilov: Yes! Natalia Stancheva. I asked if we could show the photo with her. Here it is. She revealed a terrible abuse – the existence of a polyclinic on the territory of the NPP, and also reported the existence of a pharmacy, a shop, restaurants, etc. – all of this is prohibited by law…

Lyuba Kulezich: Yes, yes, we remember who was sued – a slap trial – to pay one million leva to the Kozloduy NPP for damaging its prestige, as they claimed.

Petar Kardzhilov: Now she is looking for a lawyer, but since she is being harassed on the phone, she asked them to write her an SMS first if any lawyer wants to take over. The current situation with her is absurd and brutal: she has been kept in solitary confinement for four months and has not received a salary. Despite this, she has access, has not been fired and is present at the plant, she goes to work every day but doesn’t get assignments. Local lawyers cannot be trusted, because in the small town of Kozloduy everyone knows each other and are connected.

Lyuba Kulezich: Another paradox! Related to the permitted, unauthorized, semi-legal at the Kozloduy NPP and our nuclear energy. This was Dr. Petar Kardzhilov, whom you know well as a specialist in risks and crises communication, with extremely important questions that wait an answer from the Ministry of Energy, but affect our common life – all of us with you, one crazy case – who stores or does not store spent nuclear fuel, what is its fate? And that was “Honestly”…