VVER-440 unit was connected to the grid in February 2023
The power output level of the Mochovce-3 nuclear power plant in southwest Slovakia has been increased to 100%, Slovak utility Slovenske Elektrarne said on Monday (25 September).
The company said all power escalation testing at levels up to 90% of the VVER-440 unit’s design output had been completed in early September with a report having been submitted to the local nuclear regulatory authority.
Final testing will now be carried out at 100% power levels for Mochovce-3, which will be followed by a 144-hour trial operation run, a statement said. Testing is expected to continue into early October.
At full operation, Mochovce-3 is expected to meet about 13% of Slovakia’s electricity consumption, enough to fuel about 750,000 households.
Slovakia has four commercial nuclear reactor units – two at Mochovce and two at Bohunice – all of the Russia-designed VVER-440 pressurised water reactor type.
The fleet generates about 59% of the country’s electricity. Mochovce-3 with its 471 MW of installed capacity will bring the share of nuclear in the country’s electricity generation to 65%, putting it second behind only France.
Construction of the first two Mochovce units, Mochovce-1 and Mochovce-2, began in 1983, while the units started commercial operation in 1998 and in 2000.
Construction of the third and fourth units at Mochovce began in the late 1980s during the Communist era only for work to be halted in the 1990s and resumed again about a decade ago.
Mochnovce-3 achieved first criticality on 22 October 2022 after fuel loading a month earlier.
