Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has ordered the country’s Bohunice V1 reactor restarted in the face of the ongoing dispute between Russian and the Ukraine over gas supplies.
As we discussed last week, this really is an pointless act on the part of the Slovakian government. Slovakia uses less than 10 per cent of its gas for electricity generation. Just six per cent of the country’s electricity supply is generated by gas and is only switched on in times of high demand. Bohunice V1 on the other hand will have to run continuously – and cannot be started or shutdown quickly - meaning that it will be generating electricity that is not required.
Under the terms of Slovakia’s accession to the EU, Slovakia was expected to close and decommission the reactor. The EU didn’t stipulate this out of spite or to bring hardship to the Slovak people. They did it because Bohunice V1’s design meant it could not be upgraded to modern safety standards. In short, it is potentially dangerous.
The Slovakian government claims that under its accession treaty, it is permitted to restart the reactor in an emergency. To ram the point home, Prime Minister Fico said, ‘This is happening at a time of crisis. I would even compare the move we made today to the state of extreme emergency.’
The people of Eastern Europe have indeed suffered in the last few days. Restarting reactors isn’t going to help them, however. The dispute between Russian and the Ukraine is its final stages and gas will reach deprived areas within three days of the supplies being resumed. It’s going to take at least six days to get Bohunice V1 ready. How’s that for an empty gesture?