More on Slovak nuclear plant

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

More on the Slovak power plant, as found in a July 5, 1998 BBC 
News report

             A nuclear power plant in southern Slovakia has begun
             supplying electricity despite concerns about safety and
             environmental risks. 

             Neighbouring Austria has been appealing to Slovakia not
             to start production at the nuclear plant at Mochovce,
             about 180km east of Vienna. 

             But on Saturday afternoon Mochovce's first reactor was
             connected to Slovakia's electricity grid. The Slovak Tasr
             news agency reported that the reactor was initially
             operating at 20% of its 440 megawatt capacity. 

             The Soviet-designed power station has been upgraded
             using western technology, with the intention of making it
             safer. However, international experts who inspected it in
             May expressed reservations about the safety of the new
             features as well as of the original design. 

             Such criticism has been rejected as politically motivated
             by the Slovak energy utility responsible for running
             Mochovce, which claims instead that the plant is a
             successful example of east-west co-operation in nuclear
             energy. 


                                 The Slovakian Government
                                 and some western experts
                                 have said everything is being
                                 done to bring the plant up to
                                 western safety standards. 

                                 Austria has long opposed the
                                 opening of the power station,
                                 which is situated about
                                 120km from its border. 

                                 When the first reactor was
                                 switched on last month, the
                                 Austrian Chancellor, Viktor
       
             Klima, described the decision as an unfriendly and
             highly irresponsible act. He threatened to withdraw
             Austria's ambassador. 

             Austria also warned that bringing the station into
             operation could damage Slovakia's hopes of joining the
             European Union. But Slovakia insisted that the plant was
             safe and was vital to meeting the country's energy
             needs. 

             Slovakia is being pressured by the EU to close its
             ageing Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power plant, but has
             refused to do so until the Mochovce station is running at
             maximum capacity. 

             Reports from Slovakia say the second reactor at
             Mochovce is to start producing electricity once the first
             reactor reaches full capacity in a month. 

             The Slovakian Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar has also
             stated that his government intends to oversee the
             implementation of a third and fourth reactor. 

             Controversy has surrounded the power plant at
             Mochovce from the moment construction began in the
             early 1980s. 

             Work was halted in the early 1990s when the project ran
             into financial problems. A Franco-German plan to
             complete it collapsed when the European Bank for
             Reconstruction and Development withdrew in 1996. 

             The plant was finally finished mainly by Czech and
             Russian engineers, with limited French and German
             involvement.
------------------
Sandy Perle
Technical Director
ICN Dosimetry Division
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Office: (800) 548-5100 x2306 
Fax:    (714) 668-3149
  
sandyfl@earthlink.net
sperle@icnpharm.com

Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/1205
        
ICN Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -

The opinions expressed are solely, absolutely, positively, definitely those of the author, and NOT my employer

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