Slovakia Begins Loading Nuclear Fuel into reactor in Mochovce

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Slovakia`s state-owned electricity generator said it had begun loading nuclear fuel on Monday into a reactor at its controversial Mochovce power plant. The announcement by Slovenské Elektrárne came as protesters from the environment

alist group Greenpeace gathered outside the Soviet-designed nuclear plant, which is due to begin operating in June or July. It has been widely criticised by both Western and domestic environmentalists as outdated, dangerous and unreliable. "The reactor in Mochovce would not gain permission for operation in any EU country, due to its safety shortcomings," Slovak Greenpeace said in a statement on Monday. Neighbouring Austria, which fiercely opposes nuclear power programmes, has also expressed concern and an Austrian delegation of experts will visit the plant next month. The Slovak government denies charges that the plant is unsafe, saying that it has upgraded it in line with International Atomic Energy Agency recommendations, including the adoption of a Siemens control system and changes in primary and secondary circuit systems. Work on the plant at Mochovce, which is around 120 km (75 miles) from the Austrian border, began in the mid-1980s, but was suspended in 1989 after the project ran into financial problems and required safety upgrades. The first reactor is scheduled to be completed by the end of June and the second by the end of March 1999. Slovenske Elektrarne spokeswoman Alena Melicharkova said nuclear fuel was being loaded into Mochovce`s first reactor on Monday morning and that further details would be released later. "Today we`re starting to load the first block in Mochovce with the fuel," Melicharkova told Reuters. Greenpeace said: "Nobody asked us, inhabitants of this country, whether we want or not to have this dangerous energy resource close to our homes." Sunday was the 12th anniversary of the world`s worst nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine which borders Slovakia to the east. Slovenske Elektrarne already runs the Jaslovske Bohunice nuclear power station in western Slovakia about 70 km (45 miles) from the Austrian border. In March, SE said it had signed a contract in Moscow with Russian nuclear fuel maker OAO TVEL to supply Slovak nuclear power stations after 1999. TVEL is a Russian concern which manufactures, produces and exports nuclear fuel rods.

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