"Revolutionary New Nuclear Unit Connected to Grid, Promising Cheap and Clean Energy for Slovakia"

The Mochovce nuclear power plant (Image: Slovenské elektrárne)

After years of construction and careful preparation, the new Unit 3 at the Mochovce Nuclear Power Plant in Slovakia has finally come to life! At 10.57pm on January 31, the unit was successfully connected to the grid for the first time, operating at 20% of its full capacity. This momentous event represents a major milestone not just for the company, Slovenské elektrárne, but also for the entire country. The Unit 3 will play a crucial role in supplying cheap electricity to households and contributing to the country's efforts towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions and becoming carbon neutral.

The journey to this point has been a long and meticulous one. Tests were carried out at increasing levels of power, starting at 5% and gradually increasing to 20%. The steam turbines were brought to life for the first time over the weekend, spinning up to the nominal speed of 3000 revolutions per minute. The generator, block transformer, and the 400 kV line were also put through rigorous tests to ensure everything was working smoothly.

The next phase of the launch will involve testing the unit at power levels from 35% to 100%, with the final step being a 144-hour trial run at its full 471 MWe output. The Unit 3 is expected to supply electricity to the grid over the next few weeks, with short-term shutdowns planned according to the commissioning schedule.

With its numerous upgrades to safety and security, including increased aircraft impact protection and emergency management measures based on lessons from the Fukushima accident, Unit 3 is designed to provide 13% of Slovakia's electricity needs when operating at full capacity. The new block has a planned service life of 60 years, and is the result of decades of hard work and dedication by the nuclear energy workers and the company. The future looks bright for Mochovce, and we can't wait to see what other exciting developments are in store!

Nuclear energy is considered a cheap source of energy for several reasons:

Fuel Efficiency: Nuclear reactors use fuel rods made of enriched uranium, which is abundant and widely available. A single fuel rod can generate a large amount of energy, making nuclear power plants highly fuel efficient.

Low Operating Costs: Once a nuclear power plant is built and running, the operating costs are low due to the long lifespan of fuel rods and low maintenance requirements.

Economies of Scale: Nuclear power plants are designed to generate large amounts of energy, so they benefit from economies of scale. The more energy they generate, the lower the cost per kilowatt hour.

Lack of greenhouse gas emissions: Unlike fossil fuels, nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gas emissions, which contributes to air pollution and global warming. This not only helps to reduce carbon emissions but also helps to mitigate the impacts of climate change.

High Reliability: Nuclear power plants are highly reliable, with an average availability of over 90% compared to other sources of energy

source :(worldnuclearnews)

#Newbuild #Operation_Maintenance #Slovakia

Comments

Hot Topics

Blowout at Cape Station: Fervo Energy’s First Major Crisis After Blockbuster IPO

Just weeks after a record-breaking IPO, the flagship project of the "geothermal unicorn" faces its first major operational crisis. By : Robert Buluma Beaver County, Utah – The morning of May 27, 2026, began like any other at the Cape Station construction site in rural Utah. Workers for Fervo Energy, the newly public darling of the renewable energy world, were engaged in the complex task of drilling deep into the Earth’s crust to unlock what the company promised would be the future of 24/7 clean power. But by the afternoon, the routine had turned into a crisis. The site had experienced a blowout—an uncontrolled release of fluid or pressure from a well. For any energy company, a blowout is a serious matter. For Fervo Energy, which had just raised $1.89 billion in a blockbuster Nasdaq debut two weeks prior, it represents an immediate stress test of its technology, its safety protocols, and its $7.7 billion market valuation. While the well has since been contained and no injur...

Rodatherm Energy: The Refrigerant Gambit

By: Robert Buluma Rodatherm Energy has done something no other geothermal startup has attempted at commercial scale: swapped water for refrigerant in a closed-loop system. The claim is 50% higher thermal efficiency than water-based binary cycles, achieved by circulating a proprietary phase-change fluid through a fully cased, pressurized wellbore. The company emerged from stealth in September 2025 with a $38 million Series A—the largest first venture raise in geothermal history. Lead investor Evok Innovations was joined by Toyota Ventures, TDK Ventures, and the Grantham Foundation. The engineering thesis is elegant. The execution risks are significant. This is an Alphaxioms examination of both. II. The Thermodynamic Distinction Every geothermal company you've covered moves heat using water or steam. Rodatherm moves heat using a fluid that boils and condenses inside the wellbore. In a conventional closed-loop water system (Eavor's model), water circulates as a single-phase liq...

The Heat Beneath Our Feet: How Canada’s First National Geothermal Roadmap Could Redefine Clean Energy

The Heat Beneath Our Feet: Canada Invests in First National Geothermal Energy Roadmap By: Robert Buluma Image: The Eavor Wonder, something amazing 👏 Calgary, Alberta – June 11, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant shift toward diversifying its clean energy portfolio, the Government of Canada has officially invested in its first national roadmap for deep geothermal energy. The announcement, made today by the Honourable Tim Hodgson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources , marks a pivotal moment for a country better known for its oil sands and hydroelectric dams than for harnessing the heat of the Earth’s crust. With a conditional investment of $468,000 through Natural Resources Canada’s Energy Innovation Program , the government is backing the Canadian Deep Geothermal Roadmap project. Led by the Canadian Deep Geothermal Coalition and supported by the Cascade Institute as the secretariat, this initiative aims to create a cohesive, evidence-based strate...

"Below the Surface: How Baker Hughes is Drilling the 24/7 Clean Energy Solution"

Below the Surface: How Baker Hughes is Drilling the 24/7 Clean Energy Solution By: Robert Buluma The geothermal era has arrived — and Baker Hughes is holding the drill. While much of the energy world remains fixated on LNG exports and offshore wind, a quieter revolution is taking place beneath our feet. Baker Hughes (BKR) , the Houston-based energy technology giant, has assembled what may be the most comprehensive geothermal partnership network in the industry — positioning itself as the go-to industrial executor for next-generation geothermal power. In 2026 alone, the company has locked in strategic collaborations spanning three continents, from the deserts of Saudi Arabia to the outback of Australia and the high-heat basins of the American West. The common thread? Baker Hughes is applying a century of oil and gas drilling expertise to unlock geothermal energy at industrial scale — and the data center boom is providing the perfect market catalyst. The Strategy: "G...

Mazama Energy Newberry Superhot Geothermal Breakthrough Reshapes Clean Energy

Mazama Energy’s Superhot Rock Vision Redefines Global Geothermal Power By Robert Buluma The geothermal industry is entering a new era, and one company is pushing the boundaries of what was once considered technically impossible. Mazama Energy has ignited global attention after revealing extraordinary progress at its Newberry geothermal site in central Oregon, where it reportedly achieved temperatures of 331°C in an enhanced geothermal system environment. For an industry accustomed to operating within the 150°C to 300°C range, this milestone is more than impressive — it signals the possible beginning of a technological transformation capable of reshaping the future of clean baseload power. For decades, geothermal energy has quietly remained one of the most reliable renewable energy resources on Earth. Unlike solar and wind, geothermal power does not depend on weather conditions, sunlight, or seasonal variability. It delivers continuous electricity twenty-four hours a day, seven ...

The Retrofit Revolution: How GreenFire Energy Is Turning Abandoned Oil & Geothermal Wells Into Continuous Clean Power Without New Drilling

The Retrofit Revolution: How GreenFire Energy Is Unlocking Geothermal Power Without Drilling a Single New Well By: Robert Buluma While much of the geothermal energy sector has been focused on breakthrough drilling techniques—deeper wells, hotter reservoirs, and complex engineered systems—a quieter revolution has been unfolding in the background. Instead of chasing entirely new subsurface frontiers, one company has chosen a radically simpler question: What if the answer was already in the ground? GreenFire Energy is advancing a retrofit-first geothermal strategy that targets one of the most overlooked opportunities in the global energy transition: existing wells that are underperforming, depleted, or completely abandoned. Rather than drilling new holes into the Earth, the company is reusing the infrastructure that already exists—turning stranded assets into continuous sources of clean, baseload electricity. This approach is not just technically elegant. It may also be one of ...

The XGS Energy Heat Sponge Solves Geothermal's Biggest Problem

The XGS Energy Heat Sponge Solves Geothermal's Biggest Problem I mage: A californian XGS well pad Imagine drilling a hole into the Earth’s hot crust but instead of simply dropping in a pipe and hoping for the best, you paint the inside of that hole with a magic material that soaks up heat like a sponge soaks up water. Then you seal it, circulate a fluid, and generate clean, firm electricity 24/7, no fracking, no water consumption, no earthquakes. That’s not science fiction. That’s XGS Energy . While most of the geothermal world has been chasing fracked reservoirs or massive drilling rigs, XGS quietly built a prototype, ran it for over 3,000 hours in one of the harshest geothermal environments on Earth, and landed a 150 MW deal with Meta – enough to power tens of thousands of homes or a massive data center campus. This is the story of a technology that might be the most elegant, low-risk, and capital-efficient path to scalable geothermal power. Let’s dig in. Part 1: The Pro...

Sage Geosystems: Turning Underground Pressure Into 24/7 Power

Sage Geosystems : The Geothermal Startup That Turns Pressure Into Power By: Robert Buluma Most conversations about advanced geothermal circle around the same question: How do you extract heat from dry rock? Sage Geosystems started with a different question: What if the Earth could do most of the work for you? Based in Houston, Sage has quietly built a technology stack that treats the subsurface not just as a heat source, but as a pressure vessel. Their system captures heat and mechanical energy, stores energy underground like a battery, and uses a fraction of the surface pumping that conventional geothermal requires. This article focuses entirely on Sage , how their technology works, what makes it genuinely different, and where the blind spots still are. Part I: The Core Innovation , Pressure Geothermal Sage's foundational insight is simple but powerful: deep hot rock isn't just hot. It's also under immense natural pressure. Traditional geothermal systems ignore that pre...

Project Obsidian: Unlocking Superhot Geothermal Power from Deep Earth

Quaise Energy and the Dawn of Superhot Geothermal Power in Oregon By: Robert Buluma Inside Project Obsidian and the Future of Deep Earth Energy The global energy transition has long been defined by solar panels on rooftops, wind turbines across plains, and batteries reshaping grids. Yet beneath all these familiar technologies, another contender is quietly emerging—one that does not depend on weather, daylight, or even surface conditions at all. It comes from deep within the Earth itself, from rock so hot it behaves almost like a molten energy reservoir. That is the frontier where Quaise Energy is now operating. In Oregon, the company is developing what could become the world’s first superhot geothermal power plant under its ambitious initiative known as Project Obsidian . If successful, it could mark a fundamental shift in how humanity produces clean, continuous electricity—moving from shallow geothermal pockets to tapping heat sources several kilometers beneath the Earth’s surfac...

Supercritical Geothermal Energy Explained: The $60 Billion Future Power Source

Supercritical Geothermal Energy Explained: The $60 Billion Future Power Source By : Robert Buluma Beneath our feet lies a virtually unlimited source of clean, always-on power. Yet conventional geothermal energy—even with major recent advancements—barely scratches the surface, currently accounting for only about 1% of global electricity demand. The game-changing potential lies far deeper, where water reaches a mysterious fourth state known as supercritical. This is the frontier of supercritical geothermal energy, a technology poised to reshape the global energy landscape and attract multi-billion-dollar investments. What Is Supercritical Geothermal Energy? Water in its familiar liquid, solid (ice), or gaseous (steam) states is just the beginning. When pressure and temperature exceed specific thresholds—approximately 22.1 MPa (over 200 times atmospheric pressure) and 374°C for pure water—the distinction between liquid and gas vanishes. This is the supercritical phase: a single, dense, hi...

ALPHAXIOMS Geothermal News & Energy Research

Search This Blog