Slovakia rushes to buy ČEZ stake in new nuclear power plant

Bratislava/Jaslovské Bohunice, 17 August (CTK correspondent) - According to Prime Minister Robert Fico, Slovakia wants to buy the Czech group ČEZ's stake in Slovak company Jadrová energetická spoločnosť Slovenska (JESS), which is preparing the construction of a new nuclear power plant in the country, in September following earlier delays. Fico also criticised the Slovak Ministry of Economy's approach and announced that the Government Office would take greater initiative in the matter.

The Ministry of Economy acknowledged problems with meeting the original deadlines. The Slovak opposition had previously claimed that the dispute on the Slovak side was over the price of the settlement with ČEZ.

Slovakia and ČEZ established JESS under Fico's first government in 2009. However, Fico's current cabinet decided that the new power plant would be state-owned and would therefore buy ČEZ's 49% stake in JESS. The Ministry of Economy is tasked with settling the ownership stakes, and the extended deadline for the matter expired in July. Fico was already at odds with the ministry at that time.

"The Ministry of Economy caused delays. Some deadlines were not met. From a timing perspective, we are reaching a critical point. For me, September is the month when the ownership relations in JESS must be settled," Fico said after today's visit to Jaslovské Bohunice in western Slovakia, where the new nuclear power plant is to be built.

Slovak Economy Minister Denisa Saková is deputy leader of the junior governing party Hlas-Social Democracy. Her ministry said in June that it would request further independent expert opinions to determine the value of ČEZ's shares in the JESS joint venture. Today, the ministry also claimed that the Slovak government's commissioner for the development of nuclear energy had not instructed that an expert opinion be prepared. Fico described the statement as childish in response.

Former Slovak Economy Minister Karel Hirman previously said that consultancy firm EY had valued ČEZ's shares in the JESS joint venture at almost EUR 190 million (CZK 4.6 billion), while ČEZ put the value of its stake at CZK 2.4 billion in its annual report for the same period as EY.

According to earlier information, US company Westinghouse is expected to become Bratislava's main partner in the project to build the new state-owned nuclear unit. In constructing the new power plant, with capacity of around 1200 megawatts, the state wants to use the existing infrastructure at Jaslovské Bohunice, where Slovakia shut down two units of the older V1 nuclear power plant in 2006 and 2008 due to commitments to the EU. At the same site, Slovakia's largest electricity producer, Slovenské elektrárne (SE), part of the Energetický a průmyslový holding group, operates its own nuclear power plant.