BRATISLAVA, November 21, (WEBNOVINY) — Prime Minister Iveta Radicova is no longer convinced about advantages of nuclear energy. The head of the outgoing Slovak government announced at the fifth annual conference titled “Common EU Energy Policy and Slovakia’s Energy Security” that experts should take a stand on the future of nuclear energy in Slovakia. “I am not a nuclear expert but I personally believe that there have been enough tragedies in the world to make us contemplate the future of this energy source. But I repeat that it is up to experts and specialists to take an unambiguous position on the future of nuclear energy in Slovakia,” she noted.
Some six months ago the outgoing center-right Cabinet spoke in favor of nuclear industry in Slovakia. Radicova highlighted the importance of nuclear energy within the energy mix in Slovakia at the same conference held a year ago. She supported the completion of third and fourth units of the Mochovce nuclear power plant and the planned construction of a new nuclear installation in Jaslovske Bohunice on the site of the V1 plant, presently being decommissioned. Nonetheless, Economy Minister Juraj Miskov is still convinced about the benefits of nuclear power. “Nuclear energy is a safe, economically affordable and environmentally acceptable energy source for Slovakia,” he remarked.
The prime minister would no longer back the interconnection of the oil distribution system between Bratislava and Schwechat, either. The project is being prepared by the oil pipeline operator Transpetrol and its Austrian partner OMV, which founded BSP Bratislava-Schwechat Pipeline GmbH for this purpose. Radicova does not believe that the planned coupling is Slovakia’s No. 1 priority. Her team was supposed to decide on its fate but it is not certain whether the Cabinet will manage to do so due to the early elections. Economy Minister Miskov has championed the project, which would, in his words, bring some EUR 15 million annually to state coffers.
SITA