Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia to host Allegro reactor

Moves have been made to site the Allegro advanced reactor in central Europe. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia have agreed to make a joint proposal to host the project.

The layout of Allegro (click to enlarge)

Allegro is to be a gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) with thermal capacity in the range 50-80 MW. It has funding support as a demonstration project of the Generation IV International Forum, in which France, Japan, Switzerland and the EU are partners on the GFR concept.

It was France that suggested a joint hosting arrangement in central Europe, and the idea has received support from the Czech, Hungarian and Slovakian governments. Last week a memorandum of understanding on cooperation for the preparatory phase of Allegro was signed in Budapest by the countries’ lead nuclear research bodies, AEKI Budapest, UJV Rez and VUJE Trnava, respectively. It covers work for the next two or three years concerning the potential siting of the reactor in the countries, the selection of a specific site and also the overall organization of work for Allegro.

The trio of research bodies have made a joint proposal to have Allegro placed on the road map of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures – a forum at EU level to support large scale research and development facilities.

They will also prepare basic documents that will form the basis to make a later decision on construction and operation of Allegro in one of their countries. Support for this is coming from France’s Atomic Energy Commisison(Commissariat a l’Energie Atomique, CEA).

Allegro comes under the EU’s gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) program among a range of Generation-IV reactors. It is meant to demonstrate GFR technology and establish its potential relative to a sodium-cooled alternative design as part of the Generation-IV International Forum.

Conceptual design and safety work for Allegro was carried out around 2005. The reactor’s primary coolant would be helium gas, with pressurized water in a secondary loop. The core would have either ceramic fuel and an outlet temperature of 850 deg C, or uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel and an outlet temperature of 560 degrees. The reactor could be built in the period between 2014 and 2022.

Allegro’s pilot-scale demonstration would validate the safety reference framework and test the capacity of high-temperature components and heat processes. It would be a step towards a power-generating GFR prototype.

Source: World Nuclear News

AMEC awarded with nuclear waste contract

AMEC, the international engineering and project management company, has signed a five year contract with Czech utility CEZ for the management of radioactive waste at their nuclear power plant in Dukovany.

The contract, the value of which has not been disclosed, will be run by AMEC’s Slovakian business. AMEC provides reactor support and waste management and decommissioning services to all Slovak and Czech nuclear power plants, (Bohunice, Mochovce, Temelin and Dukovany) through its Slovakian business.

“This important contract confirms AMEC’s position as an important partner to both CEZ and ENEL in the area of radioactive waste management in the Central and Eastern European region, and is also further recognition of our specific skills in this field,” said Pavol Stuller, managing director of AMEC Nuclear Slovakia.

“The waste, spent ion-exchange resin, will be transferred into an aluminium silicate matrix specially developed by AMEC’s Slovakian team. The versatile process significantly reduces liquid waste volume and therefore offers a significant reduction in cost which maintains long-term stability of the final product.”

Source: Nuclear Engineering International

AREVA and Siemens consortium to supply digital supervision, protection and control systems for nuclear power plant in Slovakia

April 26, 2010

A consortium comprising AREVA and Siemens Energy will supply digital supervision, protection and control (I&C) systems for units 3 & 4 of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia. Slovenské Elektrárne, a subsidiary of the Enel Group, is completing the construction of two reactors based on VVER  (Pressurized Water Cooled and Water Moderated) technology .

The new power plant units will be equipped with TELEPERM XS safety I&C supplied by AREVA and SPPA-T2000 operational I&C from Siemens. Unit 3 is scheduled to be operational by the end of 2012, whereas unit 4 will be online in 2013.

AREVA has extensive and unique experience in state-of-the-art safety I&C systems for VVER-type reactors. References include Mochovce units 1 and 2 and Bohunice 3-4 in Slovakia; Paks 1-4 in Hungary; Kozloduy 5 and 6 in Bulgaria; Dukovany 1-4 in the Czech Republic; and Tianwan 1 and 2 in China.

Currently, AREVA and Siemens are performing the comprehensive modernization of the I&C system for the VVER-type reactors Loviisa 1 and 2 in Finland.

AREVA is also implementing safety I&C systems for the new VVER-type reactor that will be built on the Novovoronesh-2 site in Russia.

“This contract confirms AREVA’s know-how in advanced digital I&C systems that ensure safety, reliability and availability of nuclear power plants,” said Luc Oursel, AREVA Nuclear Chief Operating Officer. “Providing energy certainty and safety to our customers is part of our commitment.”

TELEPERM XS is AREVA’s proven safety I&C platform chosen by customers with different reactor designs and installed across 14 countries in 36 nuclear power plants.

*The AREVA EPR™ reactor I&C is also based on the TELEPERM XS and SPPA-T2000 digital safety and operational systems.

Contacts

• AREVA press office:
  Patricia Marie / Julien Duperray / Fleur Floquet-Daubigeon / Pauline Briand
  Tel: +33 1 34 96 12 15 – Fax: +33 1 34 96 16 54
  Email: press@areva.com
• AREVA Investors Relations:
  Isabelle Coupey
  Tel: +33 1 34 96 14 85
  Email: isabelle.coupey@areva.comMarie de Scorbiac
  Tel: +33 1 34 96 05 97
  Email: marie.descorbiac@areva.com

Source: AREVA News

Slovakia secures fuel for new reactors

Russian nuclear fuel fabricator TVEL has signed a contract with Slovakia’s Slovenské Electrárne (SE) to supply fuel for units 3 and 4 of the Mochovce nuclear power plant, currently under construction.

The contract covers the period from 2012 to 2017 and provides for the supply of fuel assemblies for the initial core loading of Mochovce 3 and 4, as well as five subsequent reloads for each unit. Neither TVEL nor SE gave details of the value of the contract, but local media put it at some €300 million ($400 million).

The contract was one of more than ten documents signed in Bratislava on 7 April during an official visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to Slovakia.

The contract between TVEL and SE is signed in the presence of the Russian and Slovak presidents (Image: Rosatom)

In a statement, TVEL said that the new Mochovce units will be supplied with “advanced fuel with higher than average enrichment providing more benefit as a result of better burn-up fraction and more economic fuel makeup.”

TVEL noted, “Signing the contract can be seen as an extension of the continuous and mutually beneficial collaboration of the Russian and Slovak parties in providing the active power units with Russian fuel.”

In November 2008, TVEL and SE signed two contracts. The first, worth a reported €500 million ($632.7 million), covered fuel supplies for Slovakia’s operating nuclear units – Mochovce units 1 and 2 and Bohunice units 3 and 4 – for the period from 2011 to 2015. The second contract covered cooperation principles between the two companies beyond 2015. According to reports of the signing ceremony, the agreement would see TVEL producing fuel for all “existing and future reactors” at Slovak nuclear power plants.

The Bohunice and Mochovce units covered in the contracts are all Soviet-designed VVER-440 pressurized water reactors, for which TVEL has supplied all the fuel since their commissioning. The contract currently in force for the supply of fuel for Mochovce units 1 and 2 and Bohunice units 3 and 4 was signed in December 2003 and covers supplies up to 2010.

Slovenské Electrárne, which is 66% owned by Italian utility ENEL, officially started the €2.8 billion ($3.6 billion) project to complete the two new units at Mochovce in early November 2008. Units 3 and 4 are scheduled to be commissioned in 2012 and 2013, respectively. The two units will cover 22% of Slovakia’s electricity requirements after their completion.

The Slovak government has also announced plans for a further unit at Bohunice 5, looking to a 2020 start-up, and also includes a 1200 MWe nuclear plant at Kecerovce, starting up around 2025, in its list of priority power projects.

Source: World Nuclear News

Joint venture agreement signed by Slovakia and Czech

A shareholder agreement for a joint venture to construct a new nuclear power plant at the Bohunice site in Slovakia has been signed by Czech utility CEZ and Slovakian state-owned nuclear and decommissioning company Javys.

The Bohunice plant (Image: SE)

Under the agreement, signed today in Prague, Javys will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture, with CEZ holding the remaining 49%. The joint venture will conduct a feasibility study into the construction of a large new reactor at the Bohunice site, to replace power from the shutdown Bohunice (V1) units 1 and 2, both Russian-designed VVER-440 units. This study is scheduled to be completed in 2010.

Plans for a fifth unit at Bohunice, referred to as Bohunice V3, were announced in April 2008 and are for a 1000-1600 MWe reactor. In December 2008, CEZ preliminarily agreed to be a 49% joint venture partner in the project. Plans call for construction of the new unit to start in 2013, with the plant beginning commercial operation around 2020.

Ján Valko, chairman of Javys said, “The historical bonds maintained by the Slovak and Czech energy and nuclear industries of both countries in are among the closest ones in the whole of Europe. Today we strengthen these bonds further by the new project of building of the nuclear power station that will contribute significantly to increase the energetic independence of Slovakia and to reduce significantly the deficit of power production capacities in Slovakia.”

“It is an honour for us to be a partner selected by the Slovak government to build the nuclear source in Slovakia,” said Martin Roman, CEZ’s chairman. He added, “Today’s signature of the shareholder agreement starts another project with which we can engage stronger in the energy sector in Slovakia. Besides, nuclear energy is a highly ecological and economical source; both countries have been using nuclear energy in the long term and disposing of top experts on this area; so this partnership will bring synergies to both parties.”

Slovakia currently operates four nuclear power reactors at two sites: the two units at Bohunice and two at Mochovce are all of the Russian VVER design.

Under duress, as a precondition for Slovak entry into the EU in 2004, the Slovak government committed to closing the Bohunice V1 units 1 and 2 due to perceived safety deficiencies in that early model reactor. The original date specified for closing them down was 2000, though subsequently 2006 and 2008 were agreed in relation to EU accession.

Slovakia began work in November 2008 to complete the third and fourth units at the Mochovce plant. Construction work began on Mochovce 3 and 4 in 1986, but stalled with the units incomplete in 1992.

Source: World Nuclear News