SLOVAKIA'S dominant power producer, Slovenské Elektrárne (SE), has signed a contract with the Russian company TVEL to supply nuclear fuel for Slovakia’s nuclear power plants, Ján Kopřiva, SE’s spokesman, told the SITA newswire.
According to the contract, the Russian firm will supply enriched uranium fuel rods between 2011 and 2015 to the nuclear power plants at Mochovce and Jaslovské Bohunice. Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported that the value of the contract as being €500 million. SE, however, declined to confirm the terms of the deal.
"We never release details of business contracts," said Kopřiva. “The Russian agency reported the volume of the contract without citing a source.”
The existing contract for Russian supplies to Slovakia was signed in 2003 and will expire in 2010. Negotiations on a new contract began in April last year.
SE, which is majority-owned by the Italian company Enel, operates two power stations in Slovakia, in Mochovce and Jaslovské Bohunice. It plans to complete two new units in Mochovce in 2012-2013.
TVEL is one of the world’s leading producers of nuclear fuel. Fuel supplied by the company is used in 73 commercial reactors, comprising 17 percent of the world market, and in 30 research units in 13 countries.
