Administrative proceeding – MO34

Initiating Administrative Proceeding in the matter of issuing authorizations & licenses in connection with the completion of Nuclear Power Plant Mochovce Units 3 & 4 (“MO34”)

Administrative proceeding No.: 276-2021 (3720-2016)

On 12 December 2016 Slovenské elektrárne, a. s. (SE, a. s.), delivered application to Nuclear Regulatory Authority of Slovak Republic (“ÚJD SR” or the “Authority”) for licensing commissioning of nuclear installation Nuclear Power Plant Mochovce Units 3 & 4. SE, a. s. at the same time applied for authorization for early use of the building, for permit for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel and for permit for the management of nuclear materials at nuclear facilities.The application from SE, a. s., was supported by the relevant documentation containing 377 enclosures.

Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the SR opened an administrative proceeding (administrative proceeding No. 3720-2016) for issuing the relevant authorizations and informed the public authorities concerned. The Authority also informed all potential parties about this fact (the public wishing to engage in the procedure) through a public notice.

After preliminary evaluation of the relevant documentation, the deadline for issuing a decision has been extended.

The documentation, of which the sensitive information was excluded, was made available to the public from 16 March 2017 to 30 June 2017. Participants of the administrative proceedings had taken this opportunity to look into the file and have provided comments to the documentation within the given deadline up to 31 July 2017.

After preliminary evaluation the Authority has started with evaluation of the content of the provided documentation. Authority´s evaluation focused mainly on the compliance of the documentation with legislative. During the evaluation process the authority has worked in close cooperation with the applicant – SE, a. s.

The result of the evaluation was the summary of the comments of the Authority on the documentation, including comments from the participants of the administrative proceeding, that the applicant had to resolve or complement its application.

Due to reasons mentioned above on the 28 August 2017 ÚJD SR issued a decision (decision No. 334-2017), by which it temporarily interrupted the administrative proceeding in the matter of issuing authorization for the completion of the NPP Mochovce Unit 3 and 4. Main reason of the interruption of the administrative proceeding were the deficiencies of the application, as the result of the state of readiness of the nuclear facility MO34 and its inability to perform the required tests and to document their results.

ÚJD SR has summarized public the list of identified deficiencies and published it on its website.

SE, a. s., has continuously submitted documentation with resolved deficiencies to the Authority. ÚJD SR has continuously evaluated the clearing of the deficiencies in the documentation. Nuclear Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic has confirmed to SE, a. s., that the deficiencies in the documentation were solved in the provided timeframe and in the accordance with the requirement of the decision on the temporary interruption of the administrative proceeding (latest by 15 February 2018).

On 22 June 2018 SE, a. s., has supplemented the submission in the administrative proceedings relevant to issuing the authorization for receiving of fresh nuclear fuel into designated areas of the power plant (fresh fuel node). By supplementing the submission SE, a. s., has fulfilled the requirement for continuation of the mentioned administrative proceedings. ÚJD SR has informed all participants of the administrative proceedings about continuation of these administrative proceedings in writing. The documentation supporting the decision was made public on the ÚJD SR´s website.

On 28 August 2018 SE, a. s., has complemented the submission for administrative proceedings in the matter of issuing authorization for commisioning of Mochovce Unit 3 and 4 and for management of radioactive waste according to the Atomic Act. By amending the submission SE, a. s., has fulfilled the requirements for continuation of the given administrative proceedings. Authority has informed all participants of the administrative proceedings about continuation of these administrative proceedings in writing. The documentation supporting the decision was made public on the ÚJD SR´s website.

ÚJD SR using the method of an inspection has made sure that facilities of the fresh fuel node are ready for handling of fresh nuclear fuel. After receiving the authorization of other state administrative bodies, on 29 October 2018 ÚJD SR has issued decision No. 277/2018 (Authorization for handling of fresh nuclear fuel in the fresh fuel node) and decision No. 298/2018 (Authorization for commisioning of nuclear facility in the scope of fresh fuel node and for early use of fresh fuel node according to the Building Act). Both decisions are publicly available on the Central Official Electronic Board, on the Authority website. Moreover, they were made public using public notice in Kalná nad Hronom and Nový Tekov and were sent to the participants of the administrative proceedings in writing.

One of the participants of the administrative proceeding filed an appeal against the decisions No. 277/2018 and 298/2018. The Authority has informed all participants of the administrative proceeding about the appeal and asked them to provide comments on the appeal. The matter has been submitted to the second-level administrative authority which is according to the Administrative code of Slovak Republic the chairperson of the Authority.

The second-level authority explored the attacked decisions in their entirety. The chairperson of the ÚJD SR as the second-level administrative authority refused the appeal agaist attacked decisions, based on proposal of the appeal commission established by her, by decisions No. 139/2019 P and 140/2019 P and confirmed decisions No. 277/2018 and No. 298/2018 of the Authority.

Based on the demand of the first-level administrative authority, the chairperson of the Authority prolonged the deadline for decision making in the issue of authorization for commissioning of Unit 3 and treating the radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel for Unit 3 for 6 months. The reason behind the prolongation of the deadline for decision is the great number of subsequent control activities, which need to be made in connection with repeated heating and re-cooling of Unit 3.

The nuclear regulatory authority of the Slovak Republic by its decision No. 205/2019 temporarily suspended the administrative proceeding in the issue of authorization for commisioning of Unit 4 of Mochovce NPP and the connected administrative proceeding in the issue of authorization for treating the radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel for this unit. For continuation of the above mentioned proceeding the Authority set the same criteria, defined by decision No. 334/2017 for Unit 3 (readiness for cold hydrotest of the Unit 4).

ÚJD SR is controlling readiness of Unit 3 of Mochovce NPP for commissioning by the way of inspections. Simultaneously, it is controlling the progress of the work done in Unit 4 of the Mochovce NPP.

Administrative proceeding in the matter of issuing authorization for early use of building of Unit 3 and Unit 4 according to building act is ongoing from 19. august 2019.

On 27 November 2019, an oral hearing was held in connection with the local survey of buildings and facilities for the operation of Unit 3 of the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant and in the scope of buildings and facilities common to Units 3 and 4 used for operation of Unit 3 in connection with the application for authorization for early use of the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant building, Unit 3. Participants of the administrative proceeding had the opportunity to submit their remarks and observations during the oral hearing and during the inspection of the relevant buildings and facilities which are the subject of the proceeding. The oral hearing was attended by the participants of administrative proceeding, representatives of SE, a.s., representatives of the bodies concerned and representatives of ÚJD SR.

ÚJD SR published the basis for the decision in the matter of application of SE, a.s., for authorization of Mochovce Unit 3 commissioning and related authorizations on 15 February 2020. The basis documents included the draft of the decision in the matter and Chapter 13 of the Pre-operational Safety Analysis Report MO34 (Impact of MO34 on the environment). The publication of the basis for the decision was announced in writing by ÚJD SR to the participants of administrative proceeding. The participants in the proceeding and the public had the opportunity to comment the documents by 15 April 2020.

ÚJD SR informed the public and the participants in the proceeding about the results of the ongoing inspection of materials of pipeline parts in MO34. ÚJD SR published preliminary results of quality inspections of pipeline parts as well as final results of this inspection, including an extensive report on the results of these inspections.

ÚJD SR published additional basis documents for the decision on the application of SE, a.s., for authorization of Mochovce Unit 3 commissioning as follows:

  • Pre-operational safety report MO34 on November 2, 2020
  • Decision draft in the matter on 22 January 2021

ÚJD SR re-published the documents for the decision considering the following circumstances:

  • Statement of the organization GLOBAL 2000 on the publication of basis documents for the decision of 15 February 2020
  • A relatively large time gap between the publication of the basis documents for the decision on 15 February 2020 and the possible datefor its issuance in terms of meeting all technical conditions by SE, a.s. The delay in meeting the technical conditions for issuing the decision itself was caused by both measures against the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus infection in the Slovak Republic and their application in SE, a.s., and the related slowdown of finishing works at Unit 3, as well as by the necessity for additional inspections of materials used in Unit 3
  • Considering the nature of the activity that is the subject of the authorization procedure, the participation of national and foreign public in the decision-making process, as well as the impact of the epidemiological situation on compliance with authorization conditions, it was the opinion of ÚJD SR that involved parties should once again have the possibility to familiarize them self’s with current state of fulfillment of the conditions for issuing the decision in administrative proceedings listed above

On 13 May 2021, ÚJD SR issued the decision No. 156/2021 regarding the application of SE, a.s. for the issuance of authorization for Mochovce Unit 3 commissioning and related authorizations. This decision is delivered to the participants in the proceeding by a public decree in accordance with § 8 par. 10 of the Atomic Act.
ÚJD SR decision No. 156/2021 is published on the Official Electronic Board of ÚJD SR, on the Central Official Electronic Board of the Slovak Republic and on the website of ÚJD SR in the section “Informing the public” → “Administrative proceedings – MO34”.
ÚJD SR issued the authorization for Mochovce Unit 3 commissioning after completion of material quality inspections of pipeline parts of Mochovce Unit 3 and evaluation of their results and after extensive inspections, which confirmed readiness of technology, documentation and personnel for commissioning of Mochovce Unit 3.

ÚJD SR received electronically an appeal of one administrative proceeding participants against the Decision of ÚJD SR No. 156/2021. On 11 June 2021 the same administrative proceeding participant has delivered amendment of its appeal against the Decision of ÚJD SR No. 156/2021. In accordance with the Administrative Code, the first-degree administrative authority has on 12 July 2021 forwarded the file to the authority competent to decide on the appeal, which is the highest representative of the central administrative authority – chairperson of ÚJD SR.

The Chairperson of the ÚJD SR as the second-instance authority issued on 25 August 2022 the decision No. 248/2022 P. The decision dismisses the appeal and uphold the decision No. 156/2021, by which ÚJD SR issued the authorization for commissioning of the Unit 3, the authorization for radioactive waste, spent nuclear fuel and nuclear material handling and the permit for early use of the building.

The Decision No. 248/2022 P entered into force 9 September 2022. The Decision is enforceable.

Subsequently, with the loading of the first fuel assembly into the reactor of Unit 3 of NPP Mochovce 34 on 09/09/2022, the MO3 commissioning phase began, which is divided into the physical start-up stage and the energy start-up stage. The physical start-up activities, including the loading of nuclear fuel into the reactor, preparation for the physical start-up tests, the implementation of the physical start-up tests themselves and their subsequent evaluation, were completed on 09.01.2023, when the company SE, a. s., asked the ÚJD SR for approval to move to the energy start-up phase.

The company SE, a.s., requested a two-year change in the deadline for eliminating deficiencies in administrative procedures related to the issuance of a permit for the handling of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel in the scope of objects and equipment for the operation of the 4th block and in the scope of objects and equipment common to the 3rd. and the 4th block serving for the operation of the 4th block and with the issuance of a permit for commissioning in the scope of objects and equipment for the operation of the 4th block and in the scope of objects and equipment common to the 3rd and 4th blocks serving for the operation of the 4th block. After assessing the submitted application, the Regulatory body approved SE, a.s., and determined by decision no. 252/2024 a new deadline for eliminating the deficiencies of the submission mentioned in decision no. 170/2021 until June 30, 2026.

On July 4, 2024, SE, a.s., supplemented the submission regarding the issue of a permit for commissioning the 4th block of Mochovce and related permits with the current status of the documentation required for the oral hearing connected with the local investigation. On the basis of the addition, on 21/08/2024, the office announced information about the start of hearings connected with the local investigation on the construction objects of the 4th block of Mochovce.

After assessing the progress and evaluation of the physical start-up tests, equipment readiness protocols for the energy start-up stage, the opinion of the office’s external support and preliminary conclusions of the office’s inspection, the ÚJD SR issued approval for the transition of the equipment to the energy start-up stage on 13.01.2023. The energy start-up of the 3rd block of NPP Mochovce took place from 13.01.2023 to 14.10.2023. The energy start-up stage also included a 144-hour test run, which took place from 08.10.2023 to 14.10.2023. After the completion of the test run, pre-operational tests were carried out on Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP in accordance with regulation 3-SP/0001 Pre-operational tests, which are part of commissioning.

Energetic start-up (hereinafter referred to as “ES”) smoothly followed the completed stage of physical start-up. During the gradually increasing performance, tests determined by the ES stage program were performed at performance levels up to 5, 20, 35, 55, 75, 90 and 100% Nnom. At each power level, a series of tests were carried out according to the stage program, which were aimed at checking and verifying the neutron-physical characteristics of the active zone, at checking the functions of individual devices determined by the project, and at checking the cooperation of individual devices in stationary and transient states of the block. During ES, always after the end of the exams at the relevant performance level, these exams were evaluated in writing and the evaluation was submitted to the ÚJD SR.

On August 17, 2023, the application of SE, a.s. was delivered to the ÚJD SR. for the issuance of a permit for the operation of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel, for the management of nuclear material in the nuclear facility of the Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, and a request for the issuance of consent for the trial operation of the Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP and for temporary use of the construction of the 3rd unit of NPP Mochovce. After assessing the completeness of the application, the ÚJD SR found that it did not contain all the documents according to § 6 par. 2 of the atomic law. Due to this fact, the deadlines for issuing permits and approvals did not expire. ÚJD SR invited the applicant by letter stamp 7571/2023 to complete the missing documents within 6 months from the date of delivery of the request for completion. SE, a.s., supplemented the submission on January 12, 2024. Currently, the ÚJD SR is assessing the submitted documentation so that the above-mentioned permits and approvals can be issued.

On September 9, 2024, the ÚJD SR published the documents for the decision regarding the application of SE, a.s., for the issuance of a permit for the operation of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance permits for the handling of nuclear material in the nuclear facility of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, applications for the issuance of approval for the trial operation of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, and applications for the issuance of approval for the temporary use of the construction of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP. Part of the basis for the decision was the proposal/draft decision in the subject matter. The ÚJD SR announced the publication of the documents for the decision to the participants in the proceedings in writing. The participants in the proceedings and public have the opportunity to comment on the basis for the decision in the period till 01.10.2024 inclusive.

On October 1, 2024, the deadline has passed for commenting on the Call for comments on the basis of the decision and the method of its determination, or the proposal to supplement it pursuant to § 33 par. 2 of the administrative order before issuing the first-instance decision for the operation of the nuclear facility Mochovce Block 3 and related proceedings.

On October 4, 2024, the ÚJD SR issued, in the matter of the application of SE, a.s., for the issuance of a permit for the operation of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel of the 3rd Unit of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit for the handling of nuclear material in the nuclear facility of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, requests for approval for the trial operation of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP and requests for the issuance of consent for the temporary use of the construction of the 3rd unit of the Mochovce NPP, decision no. 439/2024. Based on the published information on the administrative procedure, the delivery of the decision to the participants pursuant to § 8 par. 10 of the Atomic Act secured by a public decree according to § 26 par. 2 of the administrative order. The decision will be posted for 15 days until 21 October 2024. The last day of this period is the day of delivery.

On November 6, 2024, Decision No. 439/2024 issued within the framework of administrative proceedings No. ÚJD SR 1002-2024 regarding the application of SE, as, for the issuance of a permit to operate Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit to manage radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit to manage nuclear material in the nuclear facility of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP, the application for the issuance of a permit for the trial operation of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP and the application for the issuance of a permit for temporary structures of Unit 3 of the Mochovce NPP entered into force.

You can also find all current information in the NEWS section on the ÚJD SR website and at www.slovensko.sk in the Central Official Electronic Board section.

Attachments

Updated: 11.12.2024