Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

has four operational

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...

s, commissioned between 1984 and 1999 and with a combined net power capacity of 1,815 MWe. In 2018,

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...

produces approximately 55% of the country’s electricity. Three older reactors have been shut down. The government of Slovakia is committed to nuclear power, and two more reactors have been under construction at

Mochovce Mochovce ( hu, Mohi) is a former village in western Slovakia, best known for its nuclear power plant. It is situated in Nitra Region, northwest of Levice. The village inhabitants were relocated and the village was destroyed to make place for th ...

since 1987. Prior to its accession to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, Slovakia had to shut down two of its older reactors at Bohunice, because they did not meet European safety standards. Although Slovakia spent significant effort to achieve WANO standards, the EU insisted on the shutdowns. The first plant closed 31 December 2006 and the second on 31 December 2008. The closure of these units, prior to the completion of two new reactors has left the country short on power and Slovakia became an energy importer after the first plant was shut down. Within the EU, Slovakia is one of the pro-nuclear

Visegrád Group The Visegrád Group (also known as the Visegrád Four, the V4, or the European Quartet) is a cultural and political alliance of four Central European countries: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. The alliance aims to advance co-op ...

nations. The two under construction reactors at Mochovce will have a net electrical capacity of 440 MW each.

Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established as a public body at the ...

, an Italian power company and a majority shareholder of the Slovak power company, initially planned an investment of €1.6 billion for the completion of the

Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant The Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant ( sk, Atómové elektrárne Mochovce, abbr. EMO) is a nuclear power plant located between the towns of Nitra and Levice, on the site of the former village of Mochovce, Slovakia. Two up-rated 470 MW (originally 440 ...

units 3 and 4 by 2011–2012. In January 2006 the Slovak government approved a new energy strategy incorporating these plans, with capacity uprates at Mochovce NPP units 1 and 2, and at

Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant The Jaslovské Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) ( sk, Atómové elektrárne Jaslovské Bohunice, abbr. EBO) is a complex of nuclear reactors situated 2.5 km from the village of Jaslovské Bohunice in the Trnava District in western Slovakia. ...

units 3 and 4. During the Communist era, a third plant was planned to be built in

Kecerovce Kecerovce ( hu, Kecer) is a village and municipality in Košice-okolie District in the Kosice Region of eastern Slovakia. History Historically, the village was first mentioned in 1567. Geography The village lies at an altitude of 310 metres and ...

near Košice.

Waste disposal and decommissioning

Radioactive waste Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...

in Slovakia is disposed without reprocessing. The

spent fuel Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor a ...

stays at the reactor site; however, some spent fuel has been exported to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Slovakia has also begun a search for a high-level waste

repository Repository may refer to: Archives and online databases * Content repository, a database with an associated set of data management tools, allowing application-independent access to the content * Disciplinary repository (or subject repository), an ...

and established a fund with approximately €775 million to build it. At Bohunice, two reactors of the V1 plant have been deactivated. The total cost of decommission and dismantling of Bohunice V1 by 2025 is estimated at €1.14 billion. The first reactor pressure vessel was removed from Bohunice V1 on June 3, 2020. It is the first decommissioning of a VVER 440 plant to be completed. The process was completed amid health and safety regulations in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

References

{{Europe topic, Nuclear energy in

Waste disposal and decommissioning

See also

References