US-based Westinghouse Electric Company on 27 September signed a contract with Slovakia’s decommissioning company Javys for the dismantling of the reactor coolant systems at units 1 and 2 of the Bohunice V1 nuclear power plant.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is financing the decommissioning work.
Westinghouse said the contract covers pre-dismantling decontamination, dismantling, and fragmentation of the reactor pressure vessels, power reactor internals and other power reactor structures, systems and components at the two Soviet-designed VVER-440/230 pressurised water reactor units. It also includes material and waste management following Slovak and European Union regulations.
Slovakia shut down Bohunice 1 in 2006 and Bohunice 2 in 2009 as a condition for its accession to the European Union in 2004.
According to Javys decommissioning of Bohunice V1 is being implemented in two stages, with a final deadline in 2025. The first stage ran from the 20 July 2011 to 31 of December 2014. The second stage started in January 2015 and is planned to be completed by the end of 2025.
The Bohunice site is also home to two V-213 reactors, which began operating in 1984/85. From 2005 to 2008, plant operator Slovenské Elektrárne (SE) carried out a major modernisation programme on the two Bohunice V2 units, to improve seismic resistance, cooling systems, and instrumentation and control systems to extending operational life to 40 years (2025). This work was followed by a progressive uprating programme of both units, increasing the capacity of each unit from 440MWe gross to 505MWe gross (472MWe net) by November 2010. SE is planning to extend the operating licences of the V2 units to 2045 following upgrading.
Photo: Aerial view of the four-unit Bohunice site
