Unit 3 under construction at Slovakia's Mochovce nuclear power plant is now 90% complete, according to power utility Slovenské elektrárne (SE), a subsidiary of Italy's Enel group. The control room was switched in early November.
"Our team and suppliers has been working relentlessly for more than 45 million hours, and their efforts have been rewarded with the launch of this innovative facility. Thus, we confirm our commitment to complete the Mochovce nuclear power plant in line with schedule," said SE's general director and chairman of the board, Nicola Cotugno.
SE said the control room is "completely digitalised" and able to process 37,000 signals, which originate from more than 4000 instruments that are distributed in the power plant and are connected to the control system by approximately 3600km of cables. "Along with the main control room, an emergency control room is also ready," SE said. Other equipment that will be common to units 3&4, including a wastewater treatment plant, are now also in operation.
Enel owns 66% of SE and the Slovakian government holds the remaining 34% of shares in the utility, which owns Slovakia's four operational nuclear units - two 471MWe units at Bohunice V2 and two 436MWe units at Mochovce - all Russian-designed VVER pressurised water reactors (PWRs).
Construction began on the two additional units at Mochovce in 1986 and resumed in 2008 after being suspended for 16 years. The new units are both 440MWe Russian VVER V-213 PWRs. Mochovce 3 is expected to enter commercial operation in November 2016 followed by Mochovce 4 a year later.
Enel power group said in August that it had started "exclusive negotiations" for the sale of its shares in SE to a Czech-based company. Enel said the negotiations with Energetický a prumyslový holding (EPH) was part of its plans to divest the 66% stake in SE held by its subsidiary, Enel Produzione.
