Branislav Strýček, chief executive officer of Slovenské Elektrárne, said that fuel loading for the unit could begin in the summer of 2020 at the earliest or at the end of the year “in the worst-case scenario”.
Mr Strýček said the regulator’s draft decision was preceded by a series of technical tests and all authorities involved in the permit process will now have until 15 April 2020 to comment on the draft. The regulator ÚJD SR is then expected to issue a final decision to load fuel at Mochovce-3.
According to Mr Strýček, fuel loading has been delayed by two months from its original target deadline.
However, he said the regulator considers most of the conditions to be fulfilled, while Slovenské Elektrárne needs to work “on some minor issues that need to be fixed”.
Slovakia is building two 440-MW Russia-designed VVER units at Mochovce, about 100 km east of the capital Bratislava.
Mochovce-3 is closer to commissioning having completed cold and hot functional testing.
Once fuel loading is completed for Unit 3, physical commissioning will take eight weeks, and will be followed by testing, according to Peter Andraško, director of general construction management at Slovenské Elektrárne.
First power generation could be expected about 10 weeks from fuel loading, Mr Andraško said.
