SLOVAKIA-ENERGY: Campaign Against Mochovce Plant Heats Up

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Senthil Ratnasabapathy

VIENNA, Dec 13 1994 (IPS) - Austrian environmental and citizens groups are stepping up their bid to prevent the Mochovce nuclear plant in Slovakia from becoming operational.

The success or failure of their campaign could determine the future of the East European nuclear industry.

For should the critics indeed succeed in forcing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to drop plans to finance the project, then it would deal a death knell to nuclear industries which are seeing Mochovce as the gateway for future nuclear projects in the East.

The London-based EBRD is to decide by next April whether or not it should grant the 760 million dollar credit to complete the first two units of the nuclear power plant (NPP) at Mochovce, 100 kilometers north east of the Slovakian capital Bratislava.

The Slovakian power utility SEP and the French utility EdF have already joined forces to complete the NPP and the German firm Bayernwerk is also expected to join.

Work to construct four 440 megawatt (MW) reactors at Mochovce began in the mid 1980s but it was stopped in 1991 due to insufficient funds. Following the separation of the former Czechoslovakia, the SEP took control over the plant.

The first unit of the NPP is 90 percent complete while the second stands almost three quarters completed. The other two are half complete. All units are Soviet designed VVER type reactors.

The Slovakian authorities approached the EBRD and the nuclear body of the European Union, the EUROATOM for financial help to complete the plant.

The project promoters are allowing for citizens’ participation — allowing the public, including the environmental groups, to submit their reservations officially.

The EBRD has to consider the reservations before taking any decision.

The Slovakian government has allowed the public of not only its own country but also of neighbouring countries to submit any reservations they may have by Feb 17, next year. Besides, it is also to hold hearings in which representatives of the Slovakian electricity utility (SEP) and other promoters will have to answer questions.