Slovakia’s new nuclear unit (Mochovce) has supplied approximately 650,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) to the grid, covering the average annual consumption of about 260,000 Slovak households.
After the successful completion of all power start-up tests up to 75 per cent and the submission of the test report to the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, utility group Slovenské elektrárne increased the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant Unit 3 reactor power to 90 per cent. At this power level, according to the unit start-up schedule, the power start-up tests will continue.
“Tests at the 75 per cent power level have been carried out without delays, which brings us very close to reaching full power at reactor Unit 3,” stated Martin Mráz, Director of Mochovce NPP.
Full functionality of Unit 3 and achievement of design parameters will be confirmed by a 144-hour demonstration run at 100 per cent power, which will complete the power start-up phase. This milestone is expected to be reached during September-October.
The new nuclear unit in Mochovce will have an installed capacity of 471 MW at start-up, which will cover approximately 13 per cent of Slovakia’s total electricity consumption. In terms of electricity production, the country should become energy self-sufficient already this year.
Seven out of ten Slovaks support nuclear energy. Up to 60 per cent think it is safe to generate electricity in a nuclear power plant. This is shown by the results of an ACRC public opinion poll conducted for the Slovak Society for Foreign Policy (SFPA) and Slovenské elektrárne in summer 2022.
