On Monday afternoon, September 12, Slovenske Elektrarne completed the first fuel loading of Unit 3 of the Mochovce nuclear power plant. After the inspection, Slovenske Elektrarne can proceed to the next start-up activities – the next milestones are the reactor assembly, pre-critical tests, reaching criticality and physical tests. All these steps are part of the so-called physical startup, which takes about six weeks. The process started with the loading of the first fuel assembly at 01:15 a.m. on Friday, 9 September, making Unit 3 officially a nuclear facility. Each fuel loading is carried out according to a pre-prepared and approved programme, detailing which fuel assemblies will be placed in which positions in the reactor. There are 312 positions for fuel assemblies in the reactor and 37 positions for control assemblies with an absorber. The introduction of the fuel into the reactor is only the beginning of the start-up process.
Full story in Slovak: V treťom bloku Atómovej elektrárne Mochovce je už jadrové palivo
