Press release - April 11, 2008
Brussels, Belgium — Greenpeace today filed an official complaint with the European Commission alleging illegal state aid and market distortion concerning the Mochovce nuclear power plant project in Slovakia.
The complaint claims that market-distorting measures were put into place by the Slovak authorities to convince the Slovak utility to participate in what would otherwise have been an unviable and unattractive project.(1)(2) Italian utility company ENEL owns 66% of Slovak utility Slovenské elektrárne (SE); the rest belongs to the Slovak state.
"What this case highlights is pretty simple: when you take dirty tricks out of the equation, nuclear power is expensive, unreliable and underperforming," said Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace EU dirty energy campaigner.
Greenpeace claims that the Slovak state has manipulated the figures by artificially lowering levies paid towards decommissioning and waste funds. The amount that has to be paid to the fund has also been capped. On top of this, the Slovak state plans to massively increase contributions by all electricity consumers towards the so-called 'historic deficit' for decommissioning and waste management, thereby lowering the part to be covered by SE/ENEL customers.(3)
As a result, ENEL will be able to operate Mochovce at artificially lowered costs and decommissioning funds in Slovakia will not be sufficient to fully cover the future decommissioning and waste disposal costs.
"Not only does the pre-Chernobyl 1970's design of the new reactors raise serious security and environmental questions,(4) the evidence gathered by Greenpeace clearly points towards illegal competition practices. We call on the Commission to put an end to the nuclear protectionism of Slovakia," said Haverkamp.
Other contacts:
Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace EU dirty energy campaigner, +32 (0)2 2741 921, +32 (0)477 79 04 16 (mob.), 
Mark Breddy, Greenpeace EU communications manager, +32 (0)2 2741 903, +32 (0)496 15 62 29 (mob.), 
Notes:
(1) The main Greenpeace complaint documents can be downloaded at: http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/press-centre/policy-papers-briefings/mochovce-competition-complaint-letter-11-04-08 and http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/press-centre/policy-papers-briefings/mochovce-competition-complaint-briefing-11-04-08
(2) The European Commission is currently assessing several competition claims regarding the privatisation of Slovak utility company Slovenské elektrárne and the construction of the Mochovce power station.
(3) Slovakia ran up a ‘historic deficit’ after failing to build up reserves for decommissioning and waste during the Cold War and in the first years of its independence.
(4) Greenpeace has announced it will take the Slovak state to court for failing to carry out an environmental impact assessment in Mochovce and has repeatedly highlighted gaping design flaws which make the reactors highly vulnerable to terrorist attacks and nuclear accidents.