Slovakia’s left-right government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico wants to launch a new nuclear tender in 2027. The new nuclear reactor would be located at the existing Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant (NPP) site, which already has two reactors, and is projected to cost €10bn.

“Construction work should commence in April of 2032, the first shipping of the fuel early in 2038 and launching of test operations also in 2038,” Minister of Economy Denisa Sakova (Hlas) said at a press conference on November 20.

The Slovak government said the plan is for a new reactor offering 1,200 MW of power, with the potential to expand this to 1,700 MW in the future

Sakova also praised the country for having “enough water, needed for the cooling process”, and said that the “attitude of the Slovak population towards nuclear energy is very positive”. The financing model of the project remains "open", online news outlet Aktuality.cz highlighted.  

Earlier, the government approved a statement that said not carrying out the nuclear investments would “directly threaten” the country’s energy security and that electricity demand can double by 2040 as a result of putting “unsustainable sources of energy” out of operation.

Slovakia is the only V4 country that completed a phase-out of coal after it ended operations at the coal power plant in the Nitra Upper Region last year, and stopped operations at the Vojany power station this March.   

The government expects nuclear sources to be key in the new energy mix in which 85% of electricity should be produced from low-carbon sources, and of this, more than 61% should be produced from nuclear energy.

Slovakia put into operation a new 472-MW nuclear reactor at the Mochovce NPP last year, becoming a net energy exporter. Construction of the third unit at the Mochovce nuclear power station resumed in 2008 before being finally completed last year.

The government wants to use the Mochovce expert team for the construction of the new source at Jaslovske Bohunice. 

Many CEE member states of the European Union are looking to build nuclear power stations to compensate for the closing down of coal-burning units, and also to prepare for the expected growth in electricity demand from the shift to electromobility.