Slovakia will organise a tender for the contract to build new nuclear capacity at its Jaslovske Bohunice site in the west of the country, officials said on Monday.
"The ministry wants to prepare the documentation for the tender in the first half of this year," economics ministry spokesman Branislav Zvara told AFP.
Slovakia had to close one nuclear block at Jaslovske Bohunice at the end of 2006 with a second due to stop power production by the end of this year under an agreement with Brussels which paved the way for its 2004 EU entry. The two-Soviet designed reactors were deemed to be a safety risk.
As a result, Slovakia will lose around 18 percent of its total electricity production capacity and become dependent on energy imports.
Czech electricity giant CEZ, the biggest company in Central Europe according to stock market valuation, said Monday it would be interested in taking part in the tender. France's state-controlled electricity company, Electricite de France, has also been linked in the past with the project.
The Slovak government is also considering the possibility of building a new nuclear plant in underdeveloped eastern Slovakia under an energy strategy to 2030 unveiled towards the end of last year which has still to be finalised.
