Fuel loading has begun at the Mochovce-4 nuclear power plant in Slovakia as the reactor approaches operation almost 40 years after construction began.

The Slovak Nuclear Society said fuel loading at the Russia-designed VVER-440/V213 pressurised water reactor unit had begun on 30 June.

Work began in 1987 on two new units – Mochovce-3 and -4 – at the Mochovce site near Nitra in southwest Slovakia. However, in progress was halted in 1991 due to a lack of funds and political upheaval following the collapse of communism.