Mochovce nuclear power plant (source: SME)
Slovakia has taken its first steps to diversify its supplies of nuclear fuel after Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) and US nuclear technology company Westinghouse signed a contract to supply fuel for nuclear power plants in the country.
The agreement, signed in August following an international tender, will lead to a diversification of supplies of nuclear fuel for power plants with Russian VVER 440 reactors in Slovakia.
The country’s nuclear power plants at Jaslovské Bohunice and Mochovce, which account for almost 60 percent of total electricity production, use fuel produced by Russian company TVEL, which is owned by state group Rosatom.
However, the new supplies of fuel are unlikely to be used until 2025 at the earliest as a process to confirm its safety to use in reactors at SE power plants will first need to be carried out.
SE, the dominant power producer in Slovakia, is aiming to have at least two alternative nuclear fuel suppliers in its portfolio, as well as several potential suppliers of materials and services across the nuclear fuel production supply chain. It has already signed a memorandum of cooperation with the French company Framatom.
