OREANDA-NEWS. October 1, 2009. Atomstroyexport CJSC has offered building nuclear power plants with Modernized International Reactor (MIR) in Slovakia, reports the press service of the company.

Atomstroyexport has presented MIR at “Safe Power Supply” international conference in Bratislava (Slovakia). The objective of the conference was exchange of information and experience concerning the strategic aspects of the development of the energy sector in Slovakia and worldwide. The conferees also discussed the projects to modernize the operating Slovak NPPs, to finish the 3rd and 4th units of Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant and to build new plants in the territory of Slovakia.

“Atomstroyexport offered using Modernized International Reactor as a basis for future Slovak nuclear power plants. MIR is evolutionary improved version of the light-water WWER-type reactor, which is well known in Slovakia,” says the press service of ASE.

The capacity of the reactor is 1,200MW – exactly what the Europeans and the Russians need for the moment. Russia is already building the prototypes of the reactor. MIR-1200 is the basis of Russia’s offers for Turkey and Kaliningrad.

“MIR-1200 complies with all international standards and IAEA recommendations and is very safe and efficient. The key advantages of the reactor are its high security ensured by four independent active security systems and the service life exceeding 60 years,” says the company. One of Russian nuclear experts has told RIA Novosti that MIR was an improved version of NPP-2006 project with WWER-1200 reactor and that Russia was going to promote it on foreign markets under MIR brand.

NPP-2006 is a model project of Russian nuclear power plant of generation 3+ with improved technical and economic parameters. The objective of the project is to enhance safety and efficiency and to optimize construction costs. The capacity of NPP-2006 reactor is no less than 1,150MW with the maximum capacity being 1,200MW. The capacity factor is 92%, the fuel cycle — 24 months.

Russia and Slovakia have always closely cooperated in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy. The nuclear power plants built in Slovakia on the basis of Russian light water reactor technologies are among the safest and the most economical in Europe and the world. Slovakia has two nuclear power plants built in conformity with the inter-governmental agreements signed by the USSR and Czechoslovak SSR: Bohunice NPP with a total capacity of 1,760MW (four WWER-440 reactors commissioned in 1979–1985) and Mochovce NPP with a capacity of 880MW (two WWER-440 reactors launched in 1998 and 2000).