REDUCING THE THREAT OF NUCLEAR AND RADIOLOGICAL TERRORISM THROUGH EFFECTIVE BILATERAL COOPERATION BETWEEN BULGARIA AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Bulgaria and the U.S. are engaged in a highly reliable and progressive partnership to reduce the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism. In this partnership, the Bulgarian Nuclear Regulatory Agency (BNRA) and State Enterprise Radioactive Waste (SERAW) are working closely with the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration’s Office of Global Threat Reduction (GTRI) to ensure the security of high-activity radioactive sources. Bulgaria maintains a strong comprehensive regulatory infrastructure and is working to develop a sustainable security culture at sites that house or use dangerous high-activity radioactive sources. With assistance from GTRI, SERAW is providing increased physical protection upgrades at oncology clinics, industrial facilities, and waste repositories throughout Bulgaria. Once completed, these upgrades will greatly reduce the vulnerability of the radioactive sources and the likelihood of their theft or diversion. BNRA has also shown itself to be a model partner in this cooperation, both through its active participation and input, and through its willingness to proactively implement new international guidelines and changing programmatic requirements. The BNRA has committed to hold sites accountable for the security of their sources once upgrades have been provided, rather than continuing to rely on U.S. support. The constant effort put forth by BNRA demonstrates that the upgrades will be maintained and sustained over the long-term and Bulgaria is truly committed to ensuring the security of its dangerous high-activity radioactive sources.