Companies aim to develop centre for development of spent fuel
European nuclear technology company Newcleo and Slovak state-owned nuclear and decommissioning company Javys have signed a shareholder agreement to establish a centre for the development of spent nuclear fuel as plans move ahead to build advanced reactors in Slovakia.
Newcleo said in a statement that the joint venture agreement paves the way for using spent nuclear fuel in its Generation IV reactors.
The agreement follows the signing of framework cooperation agreements with Javys and Slovakian engineering company Vuje in January 2025 for the construction of four of Newcleo’s lead-cooled LFR-AS-200 reactors at the Bohunice nuclear power station site in Slovakia, at a cost of about €3.2bn ($3.6bn).
The joint venture, of which Javys will own 51% and Newcleo 49%, will focus on developing the project to build LFR-AS-200 reactors with a total output of 800 MW at Bohunice.
The plants will be powered with mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabricated from existing Slovakian spent nuclear fuel extracted from the country’s current reactor fleet.
The aim is to reprocess the spent fuel in France and assemble new fuel rods at Newcleo’s planned French MOX facility. The fuel would then be used to power the LFR-AS-200 units creating a closed nuclear fuel cycle – a process that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to recover uranium and plutonium, which are then reused to create new fuel.
Lead-cooled nuclear plants are not yet operating, but are being developed as next-generation reactors.
Lead has a very high boiling temperature of 1,749°C which means the problem of coolant boiling is for all practical purposes eliminated. This brings with it important safety advantages that also result in design simplification and improved economic performance.
Slovakia’s five nuclear reactors units at two sites – Mochovce and Bohunice – generated about 60% of electric power in 2023, according to data by the International Atomic Energy Agency. This places Slovakia second after France in terms of the share of nuclear power in the electricity mix.
Construction of another unit at Mochovce began in 1987, with fuel loading for the Russia-supplied VVER-440 plant expected this year.
