Economy ministry has said cost could be about €10 billion
Slovakia is preparing to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the US that would pave the way for Westinghouse Electric Company to build a new nuclear reactor unit at the existing Bohunice site, prime minister Robert Fico said, according to press reports.
“As long as this goes through, we can move toward the signing of an intergovernmental agreement that would be aimed at having American company Westinghouse build a new nuclear power unit at the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant,” Fico was reported as saying at a press conference.
Fico referred to a pending US final proposal on the agreement.
Bohunice is one of Slovakia’s two nuclear power station sites and has two Russia-designed VVER-440 pressurised water reactor units operated by Slovenske Elektrarne.
The other site is Mochovce, which has three operational plants and one, supplied by Russia, under construction.
In 2024, the Slovak government approved plans to develop a new unit at Bohunice with a capacity of around 1,200 MW and a target operational date of 2040.
“It is a huge investment. We are talking about a new unit with output of 1,250 MW,” said Fico, according to Reuters, without disclosing a value for the potential deal.
In 2023, Westinghouse signed two agreements with Slovak state-owned nuclear company Javys for the potential deployment of AP1000 reactors and AP300 small modular reactors.
Apart from Westinghouse, French utility EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) have been named as candidates for the project in previous discussions and signed memoranda of cooperation.
Recently, France-based Newcleo signed a memorandum of understanding with Javys to explore the deployment of up to four lead-cooled fast reactors at the site.
Slovakia’s ministry of economy previously estimated the cost of the new unit could reach €10bn ($11.5bn).
Jadrova Energeticka Spolocnost Slovenska (JESS) remains the project company for the new Bohunice unit. It is owned 51% by state nuclear waste operator Javys and 49% by Czech utility ČEZ.
Slovakia’s five nuclear reactors units generated about 60% of electric power in 2023, according to data by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
