Slovak power utility Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) and its partners have received a US government grant of $5m to support the selection of the best site for the construction of small modular reactors (SMR) in Slovakia. The grant from the USA’s Nuclear Expediting the Energy Transition (NEXT) project will cover the period until the end of 2025.
SE said all partners in the project want to achieve a level of knowledge that will help them support the country’s goals in the construction of SMR, the establishment of academic partnerships, technical advice and visits to specific facilities in the USA. As well as SE, the joint bid included the Economy Ministry, the Slovak Technical University, the Office for Nuclear Supervision, the Slovak Electricity & Transmission System, engineering company VUJE and US Steel Košice.
The activities supported by the grant includes consulting services around the technical and regulatory requirements for SMRs, cooperation with universities and nuclear facilities and strategies for the deployment of SMRs. SE noted: “After the selection of the most suitable location … it will be necessary to carry out in-depth surveys on the site, which will ensure a clear and continuous path in the implementation of the SMR plan.”
SE Board Chairman and General Manager Branislav Strýček said the demand for electricity will grow. “Small modular reactors are not intended to replace our existing nuclear resources, which cover most of the consumption in Slovakia safely, reliably and without direct CO2 emissions. SMRs are intended to complement the energy mix for the country’s energy self-sufficiency in the future. The grant we received through international competition is great news. It gives us the opportunity to accelerate project preparations that are important for the success of our energy transformation.”
Denisa Sakova, Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister said nuclear energy is among the most important topics within the energy sector, “as they will significantly help us to decarbonise our industry, contribute to climate goals, but especially to ensure energy security and Slovakia’s independence.”
The award is part of a wider US government-funded programme aiming to finance activities that will help countries to decide on, and prepare for SMR deployment. The NEXT programme was announced by the Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry at the Three Seas Initiative Summit in Bucharest, Romania in September 2023. It provides technical assistance to eligible partner countries and “aims to provide technical support to partner countries that are exploring emerging clean nuclear energy technologies in a manner that makes them more affordable and accessible while adhering from the outset to the highest standards of nuclear security, safety, and non-proliferation”.
NEXT is a sub-programme that provides technical assistance to eligible countries under the US Department of State’s Foundational Infrastructure for Responsible Use of Small Modular Reactor Technology (FIRST) initiative. FIRST was established in 2021 to provide capacity-building support to partner countries developing nuclear energy programmes to support clean energy goals. By August 2023 it claimed 20 partner countries in which it had invested some $21m. Like other cooperation under FIRST, NEXT supports nuclear energy countries, as well as prospective newcomers.
This grant follows an earlier award from a separate US government scheme – Project Phoenix – which in 2023 allocated $2m to fund feasibility studies into the potential for SMRs in Slovakia on the sites of former coal-fired power plants. The Phoenix Project, which is also part of FIRST, was announced by Kerry at the COP27 climate conference in 2022. The first recipients, announced in September 2023, were the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia, with Slovenia joining earlier in February.
Staff from Project Phoenix implementation partners, Sargent & Lundy, visited Slovakia in February to carry out the initial phase of a field survey of potential sites. They visited the Bohunice and Mochovce NPPs as well as Nováky and Vojany coal-fired plants. The Nováky power plant ceased production in December 2023 and the Vojany power plant in March 2024.
Slovakia currently has five nuclear reactors – three at Mochovce and two at Bohunice – generating half of its electricity, and it has one more at Mochovce under construction. Both plants are operated by SE. In February 2023 Jadrová Energetická Spoločnosť Slovenska (JESS) submitted a request to the Slovak Nuclear Regulatory Authority (ÚJD) for a siting permit for a new NPP near the Bohunice plant.
