Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund

Closure commitments

During the EU accession dialogue with the European Commission, the Slovak government announced its decision to close Bohunice’s unit 1 in 2006 and unit 2 in 2008. To support the country in the decommissioning process, the Commission together with 8 European governments established the Bohunice International Decommissioning Support Fund (BIDSF) in 2001 at the EBRD.

Scope of the fund

On 16 November 2001 the EBRD entered into a Framework Agreement with the Republic of Slovakia, which provided legal basis for the BIDSF operations at Bohunice; the agreement was approved by the countries contributing to the Fund, the EBRD Board of Directors and the Slovak Parliament. More than €134 million has been committed in contributions from the European Community, Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The Bohunice IDSF finances and co-finances selected projects for two main purposes:

• to support the decommissioning of units 1 and 2 of the plant in a safe, secure and cost-effective manner
• to introduce new measures in the energy sector which will help to minimise the impact of closure of units 1 and 2 improving the efficiency of energy supply and use in the Slovak Republic.

 

Decommissioning projects

The BIDSF supports the early stages of decommissioning of units 1 and 2 of the Bohunice nuclear power plant. The Fund gives priority to projects which facilitate the start-up of pre-decommissioning activities in a safe and secure way. In order to achieve this goal, the projects concerned focus on the implementation of specific technical and administrative systems necessary to:

• Develop a pre-decommissioning strategy which will provide the authorities with the best methodology of work, indispensable to the safe and secure shut-down of units 1 and 2; it will serve as a first point of reference to any potential engineering works needed at the plant, such as waste treatment facilities.
• Create the context for decisions on the early phases of decommissioning - in order to select the best working strategy and authorise the start-up of the process, the Slovak authorities need to be supplied with relevant documentation, including a study of the potential environmental impact of the proposed pre-decommissioning activities.
  
• Establish reliable physical protection systems to separate the decommissioned units 1 and 2 from the rest of the nuclear site which will remain in operation.
  
• Compensate the heating and steam supply for the nuclear power plant as well as the nearby cities of Trnava, Hlohovec and Jaslovske by reconstructing the auxiliary boiler station at the Bohunice site.

Energy sector projects

The first energy efficiency measures to be financed and co-financed from the BIDSF are directly related to the shut-down of units 1 and 2 of the Bohunice plant. Their ultimate goal is to help the energy industry deal with the challenges arising from the plant’s early closure. Therefore, the imminent measures focus on the provision of technical assistance which will help to:

• Define priority projects in the area - a systematic least-cost analysis of the state of the energy sector after the closure of units 1 and 2 will facilitate the strategic decision-making process in the sector; it will help the Slovak government to assess the viability of potential projects on the basis of environmental and energy efficiency considerations.
  
• Ensure safe and reliable electricity supply after the closure of the Bohunice nuclear power plant. In order to resolve the problem of post-closure grid instability, the existing transformation sub-station at Krizovany is being reconstructed and adjusted to the new conditions of electricity supply.

Last updated 28 April 2010