JESS Should Pass Fully into State Hands in First Half of This Year

Jaslovske Bohunice, 1 April (TASR) - The Slovak Nuclear Energy Company (JESS) should pass fully into state hands as early as in the first half of this year, as an acquisition of the remaining 49-percent stake, currently held by Czech company CEZ, is being prepared, Peter Gerhart, chairman of the board of directors of the Nuclear and Decommissioning Company (JAVYS), which currently controls 51 percent of JESS, told a news conference held on Wednesday with President Peter Pellegrini in attendance. JESS is in charge of the planned construction of a new nuclear power facility in Slovakia. "JAVYS is looking to the future. I'm very pleased that we have two subsidiaries within the JAVYS group. One of them is JESS, which we'll still co-own with the Czech CEZ for a few more weeks. However, once this company is fully taken into 100-percent state ownership, it will be responsible for preparing a new nuclear power facility with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts, which should be built on the premises of this nuclear power plant," said the president during his visit to JAVYS on Wednesday. Its general director Miroslav Obert said that an estimate of the price for the CEZ shares has been made, but he declined to disclose it for now. "It's still under review by the Value for Money Unit. Such a big investment must go through this body, and when it issues its opinion, we'll publish the figure," he said. Subsequently, the process will be determined, and then there'll be a debate about where the financial resources will come from, whether they'll be provided by the government or the Finance Ministry. Pellegrini at the press conference also highlighted the fact that JAVYS and newcleo have founded a joint venture called Newvys, whose role is to explore the potential for building advanced modular reactors and to seek ways of utilising the huge amount of spent nuclear fuel. He also thanked JAVYS for its 20 years of work, particularly in connection with decommissioning the V1 and A1 nuclear power plants. ko/df