Information Papers

Nuclear Power in Slovakia

(February 2008)

Electricity consumption in Slovakia has been fairly steady since 1990. Generating capacity in 2004 was 7.7 GWe, 34% of this nuclear. In 2005, 30.8 billion kWh was produced, 55% of this from nuclear power. Up to the end of 2006 it was a net exporter of electricity - some 2 billion kWh/yr.

Nuclear industry development

In 1958 the Czechoslovak government started building its first nuclear power plant - a gas-cooled heavy water reactor at Bohunice (now in Slovakia). This 104 MWe Bohunice A1 reactor, built by Skoda, was completed in 1972 and ran until 1977. It was closed following a severe accident during refuelling.

In 1972 construction of the present Jaslovske Bohunice plant commenced, with two VVER 440 type 230 reactors (V1 plant) built by Atomenergoexport of Russia and Skoda. The first was grid connected in 1978. In 1976 construction started on two type 213 reactors (V2 plant) built by Skoda. All were designed by Energoproject.

In 1981 construction of the four-unit Mochovce nuclear power plant was commenced by Skoda, using VVER 440/213 reactor units. Work on units 3 & 4 was started in 1986 and halted in 1992. Units 1 & 2 have been significantly upgraded and the instrument and control systems replaced with assistance from western companies. Units 3 & 4 remain partly built and have been maintained.

Both plants are owned and operated by the state Slovak Electric (SE) utility.

Operating Slovak power reactors  

Reactors Model
V=PWR		 Net MWe First power Announced
closure
Bohunice 2
V-230
408
1980
2008
Bohunice 3
V-213
408
1984
2025
Bohunice 4
V-213
408
1985
2025
Mochovce 1
V-213
420
1998
Mochovce 2
V-213
420
1999
Total (5)   2064 MWe

 

An upgrade program on Bohunice units 3 & 4 is under way to improve seismic resistance, cooling systems, and instrument & control (I&C) systems with a view to extending operational life to 40 years (2025). Framatome ANP is replacing the I&C systems progressively to 2008.

EU accession issues

After reviews of their safety, phase 1 upgrading of Bohnuice V1 (units 1 & 2) was undertaken 1991-95, and phase 2 - intended to achieve western European standards - through to 2000. In 2001 Slovakia relicensed Bohunice V1 units for another decade (until the next full safety review), though following the upgrades their operating life was expected to run until 2015.

Under duress, as a precondition for Slovak entry into the EU in 2004, the Slovak government committed to closing the Bohunice V1 units 1 and 2 due to perceived safety deficiencies in that early model reactor. The original date specified for closing them down was 2000, though subsequently 2006 and 2008 were agreed in relation to EU accession.

The latter dates were set despite their recent major refurbishment, including replacement of the emergency core cooling systems and modernising the control systems. Bohunice 1 was the first V-230 unit outside the Soviet Union and had had more upgrading work on it than any other one of its type, costing some US$ 300 million since 1991. Most of the work was financed by the operator, SE. The calculated core damage frequency for both units 1 & 2 was now half the target level set by IAEA for older nuclear plants, and 3% of that estimated for the units in 1991. Slovakia claimed that all their design safety deficiencies have been removed by the safety upgrading, and this had been confirmed by all international expert safety review missions.

The Slovak government had to reconcile its regulator's judgement that the plant is safe for long-term operation with the EU demand for its closure - based, it is claimed, on information which was out of date even at the time.

The units were producing electricity at half the average cost for all Slovak sources, and their closure before Mochovce units 3 & 4 are on line will leave the country short of power.

In the lead up to EU accession in 2004, nuclear industry representatives from eastern Europe called for the introduction of transparent and rational EU safety standards rather than punitive closures of reactors which had been substantially upgraded. In particular the Slovak Bohunice 1 & 2 units were cited as prime examples of the high safety standards which such reactors could achieve through upgrading with input from western firms such as Siemens.

In the event, unit 1 of the Jaslovske Bohunice plant was closed at the end of December 2006, eliminating about 9% of Slovakia's electricity supply. The second unit of the V1 plant with the same type of reactor is to be closed at the end of 2008. The Prime Minister said that he respected the decision to shut down the plant, but considered it as "energy treason" by the previous government, with Slovakia becoming an electricity importer. He suggested that it might be possible to restart the V1 units in future.

New nuclear capacity

In October 2004 the government approved Italian ENEL's bid to acquire 66% of SE as part of its privatisation process. ENEL's subsequent investment plan approved in 2005 involves EUR 1.88 billion investment to increase generating capacity, including EUR 1.6 billion for completion of Mochovce units 3 & 4 - 942 MWe gross - by 2011-12.

In January 2006 the government approved a new energy strategy incorporating these plans, with capacity uprate of 44 MWe gross at Mochovce 1 & 2 in 2007 and a further 18 MWe by 2012, and a 120 MWe gross uprate of Bohunice 3 & 4 by 2010.

Following the closure of Bohunice-1, the government called for SE to indicate its intentions regarding completion of Mochovce. Power prices were to be a key factor in SE's decision.

In February 2007 SE announced that it would proceed with Mochovce 3 & 4 construction later in the year, and that ENEL had agreed to invest EUR 1.8 billion on this with a view to operation in 2012-13. SE has already invested EUR 576 million in the two units, so with the renewed commitment they are now listed as under construcrtion. Russia's Atomstroyexport says it expects to sign contracts with SE for completing them later in 2007.  However, the government is depending substantially on the original 1986 construction permit including environmental clearance, which is now being challenged, with the need for a full new environmental impact assessment under EU law being asserted.

Slovak power reactors under construction 

Reactors Model
V=PWR		 Net MWe First power
Mochovce 3
V-213
420
9/2012
Mochovce 4
V-213
420
2013
Total (2)   840 MWe

 

The government has raised the prospect of building a fifth unit at Mochovce, and also new capacity at Bohunice or a new site in the east of the country: Kecerovce.  In March 2007 the German utility E-ON notified its interest in building new reactors at Bohunice, and in October Czech utility CEZ indicated the same.  The government's list of priority power projects in 2007 shows 1200 MWe for Bohunice V3 due for commissioning by 2025 at a cost of EUR 3 billion, and another 1200 MWe nuclear plant at Kecerovce after the closure of Bohunice V2 units and with cost of EUR 3.5 billion.

Fuel cycle

All fuel supply is contracted from TVEL in Russia.

Radioactive Waste Management

Policy is for spent fuel to be disposed of without reprocessing. In 1996 the decommissioning and radioactive waste management organisation (SE-VYZ) was set up as a subsidiary of SE, based at Bohunice. Then a separate subsidiary of SE - Decom - was set up as a consultancy and to focus on decommissioning.

An interim wet storage facility for spent fuel at Bohunice supplements reactor storage ponds, and has a capacity of 1680 tonnes (14,000 fuel assemblies). Some spent fuel has been exported to Russia.

Site selection for an underground high-level waste repository has commenced.

A treatment and conditioning plant for low- and intermediate-level wastes is at Bohunice, with repository at Mochovce.

A state fund for radwaste management and decommissioning was set up in 1995, with a levy of 10% of the wholesale price of electricity being paid into it by SE. It is expected top amount to SK 31 billion (EUR 775 million) by 2010.

A long-term spent fuel storage facility is expected to cost about SK 4 billion (EUR 100 million). Decom, with the Association for Regional & International Underground Storage (ARIUS - based in Switzerland), is running an EC-funded project to undertake a pilot study on the technical and legal requirements for a regional waste repository. This SAPIERR project is related to the needs of countries with smaller nuclear programs, and it involves 21 organisations from 14 countries.

The first phase of decommissioning the A1 reactor is due to be completed in 2007. Preparation for decommissioning the two Bohunice V1 reactors will begin in 2012, that work taking 13 years at an estimated cost of about SK 17.5 billion (EUR 500 million).

Regulation and safety

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic (UJDSR) is the independent regulatory body responsible for licensing, safety, waste management, radiation protection and safeguards.

In 1999 WENRA, the Western European Nuclear Regulators Association, reported that the country's nuclear regulatory regime was comparable with those in Western Europe.

Non-proliferation

The Slovak Republic is a party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) since 1993 as a non-nuclear weapons state. Its safeguards agreement under the NPT came into force in 1993 and a new agreement in 1999. It is member of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and since May 2004, of Euratom. The Additional Protocol in relation to its safeguards agreements with the IAEA was signed in 1999.

References:
IAEA 2002, Country Nuclear Power Profiles
Energy in E Europe 3/2/06.See also paper on: Early Soviet Reactors and EU Accession