27.08.2026, Moscow.
Slovak nuclear power plants use a cooling technology that requires a small volume of water, which allows Slovak authorities to declare the safety of the plants even under conditions of extreme drought in Europe. However, anti-Russian sanctions may pose a greater threat to Slovak nuclear energy, Rossa Primavera News Agency‘s Europe Desk notes.
Unlike the nuclear plants in Hungary and Romania, which have faced serious problems due to the record shallowing of the Danube, Slovak plants use a different cooling technology that requires significantly less water.
For example, while the Paks NPP in Hungary requires 100 cubic meters of water per second, Slovakia’s Mochovce needs only two cubic meters per second. And for the new nuclear reactor planned for construction in Slovakia at Bohunice, one to two cubic meters of water per second will be required.
Although, according to the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, extreme drought has covered approximately three-quarters of the country’s territory, the authorities claim that the possibility of such a situation was taken into account when designing the plants, and therefore the Mochovce and Bohunice stations continue to operate normally.
“We are safe in terms of electricity production at nuclear power plants, when it comes to the key factor of water supply that ensures the operation of these strategic facilities,” stressed Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on August 17 after visiting the Bohunice NPP.
However, Slovakia does have problems with its nuclear plants, but they do not stem from the whims of nature, but from Brussels. Anti-Russian sanctions are harming the republic’s nuclear energy.
The country’s operating Mochovce and Bohunice plants were built with the assistance of the USSR and Russia, and all five nuclear reactors are of Soviet or Russian origin. Fuel for them is supplied exclusively by a Rosatom’s TVEL company.
Now, due to EU anti-Russian sanctions, the country is forced to choose the US company Westinghouse as the contractor for the construction of a new power unit at the Bohunice plant, although Fico acknowledged that cooperation with Moscow in the nuclear sphere “would be natural,” since this partnership has extensive experience and Russia possesses good technologies.
Furthermore, the situation where fuel for Slovak nuclear power plants is supplied exclusively from Russia runs counter to Brussels’ plans to completely abandon Russian energy resources. The company Slovenske Elektrarne is negotiating to diversify supplies with US Westinghouse and French Framatome, but Slovak authorities do not plan to terminate the existing contract with Russia, as this would jeopardize the stability of electricity production in the country. Fico stated that if a ban on the import of Russian nuclear fuel were introduced, Slovakia would have to shut down five nuclear reactors.
Slovak nuclear energy is capable of coping with extreme drought, but it will not cope if Brussels decides to completely cut it off from cooperation with Russia.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
