Introduction

Slovakia is a country with a shortage of indigenous energy sources and, therefore, over 90% of primary energy sources have to be imported. Slovakia has two nuclear power plants (the Bohunice NPP and the Mochovce one), which currently generate about half of Slovakia’s electricity. They are owned by two companies - Slovenské elektrárne (the Slovak Electricity provider), SE a.s., and JAVYS. The rest is produced by thermal power plants (around 30%) and hydro (around 20%). The Bohunice NPP’s two oldest reactors were due to be decommissioned as part of the energy chapter of Slovakia’s accession treaty with the EU. Bohunice’s unit 1 was shut down on 31 December 2006, and the second reactor was closed on 31 December 2008. In addition, while electricity consumption is rising by 3% a year, Slovakia may have to shut down part of its two thermal power plants, in Novaky and Vojany. The Mochovce NPP has two VVER 440 type V-213 reactors in operation and two as yet uncompleted reactors. In February 2007, Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico and Enel's general director Fulvio Conti announced that Italy's Enel, majority owner of Slovakia's dominant power producer, Slovenské elektrárne, will complete the third and fourth units of the nuclear power plant at Mochovce, southern Slovakia by 2013. The European Commission gave on, 15 July 2008, its conditional approval for the completion of units 3 and 4 at Mochovce. In November 2008, construction of the two units began. In December 2008 the Slovak government chose Czech utility CEZ as its strategic partner in proposals to construct the fifth reactor of the Bohunice NPP by 2020. On May 28 2009, Czech utility CEZ and Slovak state-owned company JAVYZ signed a joint venture for the construction of the 5th reactor at Bohunice to replace Bohunice-1 and -2.

Country Profile

Executive Summary

Slovakia is a country with a shortage of indigenous energy sources and, therefore, over 90% of primary energy sources have to be imported. Slovakia has two nuclear power plants (the Bohunice NPP and the Mochovce one), which currently generate about half of Slovakia’s electricity. They are owned by two companies - Slovenské elektrárne (the Slovak Electricity provider), SE a.s., and JAVYS. The rest is produced by thermal power plants (around 30%) and hydro (around 20%). The Bohunice NPP’s two oldest reactors were due to be decommissioned as part of the energy chapter of Slovakia’s accession treaty with the EU. Bohunice’s unit 1 was shut down on 31 December 2006, and the second reactor was closed on 31 December 2008. In addition, while electricity consumption is rising by 3% a year, Slovakia may have to shut down part of its two thermal power plants, in Novaky and Vojany. The Mochovce NPP has two VVER 440 type V-213 reactors in operation and two as yet uncompleted reactors. In February 2007, Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico and Enel's general director Fulvio Conti announced that Italy's Enel, majority owner of Slovakia's dominant power producer, Slovenské elektrárne, will complete the third and fourth units of the nuclear power plant at Mochovce, southern Slovakia by 2013. The European Commission gave on, 15 July 2008, its conditional approval for the completion of units 3 and 4 at Mochovce. In November 2008, construction of the two units began. In December 2008 the Slovak government chose Czech utility CEZ as its strategic partner in proposals to construct the fifth reactor of the Bohunice NPP by 2020. On May 28 2009, Czech utility CEZ and Slovak state-owned company JAVYZ signed a joint venture for the construction of the 5th reactor at Bohunice to replace Bohunice-1 and -2.

Security of supply

Slovakia is a country with a shortage of indigenous energy sources and , therefore, over 90% of primary energy sources have to be imported from abroad, especially from the Ukraine (coal), the Czech Republic (coal), to a lesser extent from Poland (coal) and the Russian federation (gas, oil and coal). The only indigenous energy sources are low-grade brown coal, small amounts of gas and crude oil. Fuel for nuclear power is also imported from abroad. Slovakia has two nuclear power plants (Bohunice and Mochovce), which generate around 55% of its electricity. They are owned by two companies - the Power Utility SE a.s. and JAVYS (state company in charge of decommissioning, radioactive waste and spent fuel treatment and storage), while all units are operated by SE a.s. Shares are owned by the Slovak National Property Fund. During SE a.s. privatization, 66% of the shares were sold to Italian Electric Power Company ENEL. The rest of Slovakia’s domestic power is produced by thermal power plants (around 30%) and hydro plants (20%). After the NPP’s V1 Units shut down, Slovakia will have to import electricity to cover its national consumption. Equilibrium in terms of power production is expected after Mochovce Units 3 and 4 are completed, in 2012.

The CENTREL electricity system links Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. In1995, the CENTREL system was connected with Western Europe’s grid. Currently, both north-south and east-west connections are being expanded, as part of the EU’s Trans-European Energy Network Project, including a new link to Lithuania. The four countries in the region are also members of the electricity transmission system - Union for the Coordination of Transmission of Electricity (UCTE), which represents the interests of transmission operators in 20 countries.

Nuclear Policy

Slovakia’s Bohunice NPP has two reactors in operation and three reactors are being decommissioned. Its two V-1 s units are equipped with Russian VVER reactors (of the older V-230 model). They were upgraded during 1991 to 2000, which brought them up to international safety standards, thereby fulfilling all the Slovak nuclear regulatory authority’s (UJD SR) requirements. The UJD SR was created in 1993 and is the independent regulatory body for licensing, safety, waste management and safeguards. The Slovak government was due to decommission the Bohunice NPP’s two oldest reactors as part of the energy chapter of Slovakia’s accession treaty with the EU. Bohunice’s unit 1 was shut down on 31 December 2006, and the second reactor was closed on 31 December 2008. Moreover, for environmental reasons, Slovakia may have to shut down parts of two thermal power plants at Novaky and Vojany. Meanwhile, electricity consumption is rising by 3% a year, which could result in power shortages in the country. The EU will provide funds to help to support projects linked to the closure both of the Bohunice V-1 nuclear power reactors. The Mochovce NPP has two VVER 440 type V-213 reactors in operation and two yet-to-be-completed reactors. In February 2007, Slovakia’s Prime Minister, Robert Fico and Enel's general director Fulvio Conti announced that Italy's Enel, majority owner of Slovakia's dominant power producer, Slovenské elektrárne, will complete the third and fourth units of the nuclear power plant at Mochovce, southern Slovakia by 2013. The European Commission gave on, 15 July, its conditional approval for the completion of units 3 and 4 at Mochovce. The Commission considered that the two VVER 440/V213 units complied with Slovak and international regulations. However, the Commission required additional measures to be taken and made several recommendations on the basis of best practices relating to safety and security. The reactors should provide “an equivalent level of protection as the one provided by a full containment”. In November 2008, construction of the two units began. In December 2008 the Slovak government chose Czech utility CEZ as its strategic partner in proposals to construct the fifth reactor of the Bohunice NPP. On May 28 2009, Czech utility CEZ and Slovak state-owned company JAVYZ signed a joint venture for the construction of the 5th reactor at Bohunice to replace Bohunice-1 and -2. The new unit should begin to produce electricity in 2020. While CEZ will be the strategic partner, the state will retain a controlling interest.

Safety and Waste Management

Apart from the two oldest reactors that are due to be decommissioned, the two other Bohunice units are of the most recent VVER-440/213 design, which incorporates most of the safety features of non-Soviet-type reactors. However, a programme for further enhancing the safety of these units has started in cooperation with Western European companies, following the recommendations of UJD SR and the IAEA. Current policy is for spent fuel to be disposed of without reprocessing. In 1996, the SE a.s. branch company VYZ (decommissioning and radioactive waste management organization) was set up, and later on in 2006 was excluded from SE a.s. privatisation and transformed to JAVYS a.s. (100 % state-owned company)

An interim wet storage facility for spent fuel, at Bohunice, supplements reactor storage ponds. Some spent fuel has been exported to Russia. Site selection for an underground high-level waste repository has begun. A treatment and conditioning plant for low and intermediate-level radioactive waste is located at Bohunice, with a repository site located at Mochovce. A state fund for radwaste management and decommissioning was set up in 1995, with a levy of 10% on the wholesale price of electricity generated from nuclear units being paid by SE a.s.

Climate Change

According to the text of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, Slovakia has agreed to reduce its aggregate emission of all six greenhouse gases (GHG) by 8% from the level of the base year 1990 during the first commitment period (2008 to 2012). In Slovakia, the Kyoto Protocol was signed on February 26, 1999 and the government approved its ratification in January 2002. Slovakia is prepared to fulfill its Kyoto Protocol commitments with regard to GHG emissions, but not because of environmental considerations but primarily because of the extensive decrease in national economic activity that took place in the 1990’s. Emissions of CO2 per capita and per year are decreasing, but they still amount to approximately twice the worldwide average. Therefore, Slovakia is carrying out activities focused on the reduction of air emissions from coal-fired power plants. NPPs help reduce GHG emissions. The closure of Bohunice V-1 NPP has had a negative impact upon the CO2 reduction programme, while completion of Mochovce NPP Units 1&2 will help further GHG reduction.

Public Opinion

According to an opinion poll published by the polling agency, GfK, in March 2007, 66.6% of the Slovak population back the completion of Mochovce 3 & 4. Another survey carried out by Markant in 2008 shows that 73.6% of the population believes that the current nuclear asset should continue to be used in the future or that nuclear capacity should be increased.