September 25 (SeeNews) - Austria's Carinthia region plans to take legal steps against neighbouring Slovenia's project to expand the Krsko nuclear power plant, Austrian media reported.
Carinthia plans to resort to all legal and political means at all levels to prevent the expansion of the Krsko plant, Austrian public broadcaster ORF quoted on Saturday Carinthia's provincial councilor for economic affairs, Sebastian Schuschnig, as saying.
"Carinthia's government and the Austrian federal government must do everything possible to ensure that the expansion plans are stopped and the Slovenian nuclear power plant is shut down," Schuschnig said.
Last week, Slovenian state-run energy group Gen-Energija's CEO Dejan Paravan said the company considers expanding the planned capacity of a projected second unit at the Krsko nuclear power plant to 2,400 MW from 1,100 MW.
"However small the chance may be, we must try to rethink our interests at all political levels in the state and at the federal level and ultimately at the European level for our population, especially for our children," ORF quoted Carinthia region's president Peter Kaiser as saying.
Slovenia's infrastructure ministry issued an energy permit for the construction of a second reactor unit at Krsko in July 2021, but the decision immediately drew fire from Austria, whose constitution bans the use of nuclear fission in its energy supply. Austria's environment minister Leonore Gewessler said back then that the country had major concerns about the project and has asked for an assessment of the earthquake risk at the site by international experts.
The Krsko nuclear power plant, located in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, generates some 40% of Slovenia's electricity output. The plant is located around 100 kilometers from Austria and operates a Westinghouse pressurised light water reactor of 2,000 MW thermal power capacity. The operating company, Nuklearna elektrarna Krsko (NEK), is co-owned by Gen-Energija and Croatian power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP).