Reactor at existing Bohunice site could be supplied by Westinghouse
Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico said his government has signed an agreement with the US to build an additional nuclear reactor at the existing Bohunice site in the west of the country.
Fico announced on 10 September during a speech at the annual European Nuclear Energy Forum (Enef) in the Slovak capital of Bratislava that a deal was “signed and approved”. He did not disclose any more details on the deal.
He said that the new reactor will be have an output of over 1,000 MW and be fully owned by the state.
Fico said earlier this year that Slovakia was preparing to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the US that would pave the way for Westinghouse Electric Company to provide a unit for Bohunice.
“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.
He also referred at the time 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 Russia-supplied operational plants and one, also 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.
