Education and training
Regarding de Bachelor degree, one of the main university of Bulgaria, the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski has a wide offer covering different fields in the nuclear scope as the radiation with the Bachelor in Dosimetry and Radiation Protection , the chemistry with the Bachelor in Nuclear Chemistry and the energy with the Nuclear Technology and Nuclear Power Engineering Bachelor (Nuclear Techniques and Energetics).
The Technical University of Sofia offers a Thermal and Nuclear Power Engineering Bachelor which complement with its Nuclear Power Engineering Master and the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski offers two options within the nuclear scope, the Nuclear Techniques and Technologies Master and a Nuclear Physics and Elementary Particles Master.
With respect to the PhD Degree, the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski offers the possibility of a Nuclear Physics and Elementary Particles PhD. By its way the Technical University of Sofia offers a Nuclear Power Engineering PhD.
In addition to these degrees, some Bulgarian universities teach courses in the nuclear scope such as the Plodiv University Paisii Hilendarski which offers a Postgraduate Nuclear Physics Methods or the Ruse University/Русенски университет "Ангел Кънчев" which offers an Atomic and Nuclear Physics course and a General and Applied Physics Scientific in Nuclear Theory and Nuclear Reactions course.
The Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy (INRNE) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences offers a Neutron Physics and Physics of Nuclear Reactors (for Doctor’s Degree), a Nuclear Physics (for Doctor’s Degree), and a Physics of Elementary Particles and High Energies (for Doctor’s Degree).
Human resources and knowledge management
Bulgaria operates 2 nuclear reactors at KOZLODUY 5 and 6, which are generating about 35% of its electricity.
By 2011, the country was planning to build a 2000-megawatt unit in BELENE, which was scheduled to start operating in 2014/2015 but in March 2012 the government decided to drop Belene project and rather transfer the reactor from Belene to the existing plant in Kozloduy.
Nuclear energy is – and will continue to be – part of the solution to meet Bulgarian energy needs and to mitigating climate change. The Concept of the Bulgarian Energy Strategy till 2020 stipulates that it would be possible for the country to have ln the future a low-carbon energy mix, stable prices, and possibilities for increasing export by: 1) constructing a new nuclear power plant in Belene and by 2) extending of the capacities in Kozloduy NPP.