Since its launch on August 28 last year, the first reactor of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in central Slovakia has generated 3.17 TWh of electricity, representing approximately 5 billion Slovak crowns ($120 million) in income.
Fuel will be loaded into the second reactor in October, while the first reactor is shut down for refueling. Trial operation of the second reactor is scheduled to begin on December 25. The reactor should hit full output for 144 hours during the trial.
The investment plan of state power producer Slovenské Elektrárne (SE), which operates Slovakia's two nuclear power plants, allocates a further 4.4 billion crowns for the completion of Mochovce's second reactor, in addition to the 39.6 billion crowns already invested in the plant since its conception in the 1980's. Approximately one billion crowns will be spent on further safety improvements next year.
Slovakia consumed 28,254 GWh of electricity in 1998. Of this figure, almost 92% was generated locally while 2,240 GWh was imported.
Slovenské Elektrárne produces 85% of the power used in Slovakia. Of the 22,023 GWh the firm produced in 1998, nuclear power plants accounted for almost 52%, while 28% came from thermal power stations and 20% from hydroelectric plants.
