POWER utility Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) says it will complete the third and fourth units of the Mochovce nuclear power plant about one year later than originally planned.
“Commercial operation of the third unit will start in late 2013 and the fourth unit in the middle of 2014,” Fulvio Conti, CEO of Italian energy group Enel, which owns 66 percent of SE, announced at an annual press conference in Rome on March 8, the SITA newswire wrote. “The postponement by a few months has been caused by several factors, such as construction work, as well as stress tests.”
According to the original schedule, the third nuclear reactor should have begun operating later this year and the fourth in mid 2013.
Construction work began on the third and fourth units in Mochovce in the mid 1980s but was suspended in the early 1990s. The work to complete them was officially re-launched on November 3, 2008. The units will use Soviet-designed VVER 440/V-213 reactors.
Before January 1, 2008, the equivalent of €347 million had already been spent on construction, leaving the site buildings about 70 percent finished and technical equipment about 30 percent installed. The price tag to complete the project is about €2.8 billion.
