Nuclear experts and the state authorities plan to use the existing nuclear power plant at Jaslovské Bohunice (Trnava region) as a future source of nuclear energy with new reactors after the plant is shut down at the end of 2008, the Pravda daily quotes Economy Ministry spokesman Branislav Zvara as saying in an article on August 27.
"We're trying to find a solution that would use everything from V1 that can be used," added state-owned Nuclear and Outage company spokesman Dobroslav Dobrák. According to Dobrák, the water infrastracture that was used to cool the V1 plant with water from the Váh River can be utilized, along with the electricity network for the produced electricity.
However, former director of the State Fund for Nuclear Facilities Decommissioning Jozef Hrabina notes that the V1 cooling towers could only be used if the new reactor(s) was/were constructed close to the old V1 reactors. The economy ministry is considering building one or two new reactors, with costs estimated at Sk30 billion (€892.7 million). The existing infrastructure at Jaslovské Bohunice should mean lower costs than if new reactors were built on a green field.
The new nuclear power plant should be financed by private funds, while its output is estimated at 1,000 MW. Two reactors were shut down at the Jaslovske Bohunice plant at the end of 2006, with the remaining two due for decommissioning at the end of next year in line with an agreement reached during Slovakia's EU-accession talks. Pravda, TASR
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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