JAVYS and NewCleo Sign Founding Agreement for CVP Enterprise (2)

Jaslovske Bohunice, 23 June (TASR) - Representatives of the state-owned Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS) and an innovative European company called NewCleo signed the founding agreement on setting up a joint venture called 'Centre for Developing Spent Nuclear Fuel Use' at the JAVYS premises in Jaslovske Bohunice (Trnava region) on Monday, marking another step toward the future construction of four fourth-generation advanced modular reactors. Slovakia's Nuclear Energy Research Institute (VUJE) and NewCleo also signed a memorandum of understanding related to the development and design of data centres. "Nuclear energy has the full support of the government, it has full political backing," assured Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) in his speech shortly before the signing of the founding agreement, adding that although Slovakia will become an exporter of electricity after the full start-up of the fourth unit of the nuclear power plant in Mochovce (Nitra region), the demands for electricity will increase in the future. "Around 2040, we can count on an 80-percent increase in electricity consumption in Slovakia," he said. He therefore welcomes all steps aimed at expanding electricity generation capacity in Slovakia. In connection with the planned construction of fourth-generation modular reactors in Jaslovske Bohunice, he pointed to "an excellent idea of how to handle and work with already spent nuclear fuel". One modular reactor should have a capacity of around 200 MWe. "If it is possible, the plan is to build four such reactors, which is 800 MWe in total," added the prime minister. Vice-premier and Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) spoke about the involvement of Slovak experts in the process. "We offer our know-how in nuclear energy, we offer land," she said. Head of NewCleo Stefano Buono explained that the benefit will be the recycling of the radioactive waste produced, which will be able to provide Slovakia with energy for hundreds of years to come. The recycling of the nuclear fuel should be carried out in France. "New fuel will be created and we'll bring it back to Slovakia," he stated. JAVYS Board of Directors chairman Peter Gerhart explained that CVP will be responsible for "finding solutions for the use of spent nuclear fuel in the form of advanced modular reactors". He indicated that the new modular reactors could be launched within ten years. JAVYS, through its other subsidiary, is also responsible for the construction of a new large nuclear unit with a capacity of about 1,250 MWe. VUJE's director for development and international projects Andrej Ziarovsky noted that if the technology is put into commercial operation, the volume of radioactive waste will be reduced to 10-15 percent compared to today, adding that the memorandum of understanding between VUJE and NewCleo aims to develop and design data centres that represent information and data logistics "for further cooperation in the development of advanced fourth-generation reactors or directly in the development of a new type of fuel". am/mcs