BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico said Tuesday his government has approved an agreement with the United States to build an additional nuclear reactor.
Fico announced the multibillion-dollar deal during a speech at the annual nuclear conference in the Slovak capital. He said the new reactor would be built on the existing nuclear power plant at Jaslovské Bohunice in western Slovakia, would have a capacity of more than 1,000 megawatts and would be entirely state-owned.
It is unclear when the two governments will sign the agreement.
Fico did not provide further details, but his government last year approved a plan to build a 1,200-megawatt nuclear plant on the site where the dominant Slovenské Elektrárne (Slovak Power Plants) company currently operates two nuclear units. The cost of the project was estimated at 15 billion euros ($17.5 billion).
The government initially planned to find a developer through a public tender, but recently said it was negotiating a direct deal with US company Westinghouse.
Slovakia relies heavily on nuclear power and currently produces more than 80% of its electricity from two nuclear plants.
The Slovak plan reflects recent nuclear expansion in Central and Eastern Europe. The neighboring Czech Republic has signed a contract with Korea's KHNP to build two more nuclear reactors. Poland has struck a deal with Westinghouse to build its first nuclear power plant, and Russian energy giant Rosatom is set to build two more reactors in Hungary.
