The contract on the completion of units 3 and 4 of Mochovce nuclear power plant has been won by a consortium of Italian firm Officine Leoncini and Energomont Trnava from Slovakia. They were awarded the EUR 6.32 million contract, beating another 5 tenderers in the bid. The tender was announced on 21 July and the winner selected by Slovenske Elektrarne, a.s.
Some experts feel the units should not be completed, not least experts from Austria who don’t like having such an outdated model of nuclear power plant on their doorstep. The project of units 3 and 4 was started under the former communist regime, but work was halted in 1992 due to a lack of finances. At that time, some 70% of the building work for the reactors was already complete, and so the Slovak government included the condition to complete the two units into the contract with Italian energy concern Enel, when it privatised part of Slovenske elektrarne back in 2006. Slovensky elektrarne is owned by the National Property Fund (FNM), which retained a 34% stake, and by Enel SpA, which holds a 66% stake.