Slovakia will always strive for the further development of nuclear energy, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in Prague at the plenary meeting of European Nuclear Energy Forum (ENEF) on Tuesday (23 May).
“Our government will never abandon this policy and will always fight for the right to choose the way for the production of energy in the future,” he stressed.
His Czech counterpart, Bohuslav Sobotka, also said nuclear energy is the right option for the energy mix of his country and that “there is no other way”………
One new nuclear reactor is planned for the power plant in Dukovany, where the current reactors will be shut down by 2037. Sobotka said that documentation for an environmental impact assessment is being prepared, and the final statement could be published next year.
The current reactors powering both Czech nuclear plants – the aforementioned Dukovany and Temelín – are examples of Russian VVER technology, but the premier said that all available technologies are being compared when it comes to the planned construction.
In Slovakia, 55% of the electricity is produced by nuclear plants, which means that globally it is one of the countries with the highest share of nuclear in its energy mix.
Two new reactors are being finalised at the plant in Mochovce, and one new reactor is planned for construction in Jaslovské Bohunice.
According to Slovak Minister of Energy Peter Žiga, the project is technically prepared, but current economic conditions are not favourable. “We are waiting for better times, when the prices of electricity at the wholesale market will be a bit higher,” he said.
Nuclear energy struggles with the economy all over Europe, Martin Sedlák, the director of Czech Alliance for energy self-sufficiency said in a debate organized by EURACTIV Czech Republic and its media partner, Aktuálně.cz.
“The assumption of nuclear renaissance connected with the reactors of III+ generation has not materialized. Nuclear companies promised that the investment costs of nuclear reactors will fall rapidly. But if we look to Finland, France or the US, we can see that the construction becomes complicated. This has also consequences for new projects like Hinkley Point C in the United Kingdom which requires high subsidies,” Sedlák said.
The model for financing the new reactor in Dukovany, worth around €4 billion, is still unclear, and Prime Minister Sobotka has said in the past that there is no will to offer any kind of price guarantees……https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/sobotka-and-fico-czechs-and-slovaks-committed-to-nuclear-energy/
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