VZCZCXRO4865
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
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DE RUEHSL #0017 0121546
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121546Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2227
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000017 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CE K. ERTAS, L. LOCHMAN 
STATE FOR EUR/ERA E. MCCONAHA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG ECON EINV LO
SUBJECT: SLOVAK GAS CRISIS UPDATE: IT'S GETTING POLITICAL 
 
REF: BRATISLAVA 0008 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  NOT for internet 
distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU) As the gas crisis continues to play out in Slovakia, 
it is becoming more and more a playground for political 
maneuvering.  The GoS has declared an intention to re-open a 
440MW nuclear power plant at Jaslovske Bohunice, which had 
been closed on December 31 as part of Slovakia's EU accession 
agreement.  The plan to re-open the plant has predictably 
elicited protests from the strongly anti-nuclear Austrians 
and the EC, and plaudits from Slovak politicians across the 
political spectrum.  Energy analysts in Slovakia have been 
skeptical, seeing this as a populist move that shows the 
government taking heroic action in the face of the gas crisis 
and sticking a thumb in the EU's eye at the same time. 
 
¶2. (SBU) As to the necessity of mobilizing extra electrical 
generation capacity, the GoS has been playing two conflicting 
messages: on the one hand, that it has made provisions to 
keep the gas flowing to residences and critical public 
infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and government 
buildings; and on the other hand, that the crisis is severe 
enough to re-start Bohunice.  To the latter end, Minister of 
Economy Lubomir Jahnatek has since late last week been 
sounding increasingly shrill messages about the possible 
blackout of the entire country.  The numbers that he has 
shared with the public, however, back up the calmer case: 
Slovakia has a sizable reserve, though with some limitations 
on the speed with which it can pump from the reserves 
(reftel), and it is examining how to triage its thermal 
plants in case system pressure should drop in some parts of 
the country, particularly the East.  The emergency measures 
imposed on large industrial plants last week remain in effect 
and have not been raised.  As well, Jahnatek's deputy, Peter 
Ziga, has consistently offered the calmer version of the 
condition of the electrical grid. 
 
¶3. (SBU) One real development is a fire in the early hours of 
January 12 in a coal conveyer servicing the 440MW thermal 
power plant at Novaky, in western Slovakia.  The fire has 
been extinguished, but the damage to the conveyor has shut 
down the plant.  The Ministry of Economy and the electrical 
utility operator, Slovenske Elektrarne, have offered 
strikingly different interpretations of the fire's impact on 
the electrical grid.  The Ministry has said that the 
stability of the grid is threatened, while the operator says 
it has some 518MW of reserve capacity at Zemianske Kostolany 
to put online immediately.  The operator has estimated that 
the Novaky plant will remain offline for about three weeks. 
 
OBSITNIK