July 21 (SeeNews) - Slovenia's infrastructure ministry has issued an energy permit for the construction of a second reactor unit at Krsko nuclear power plant, it said.
The decision clears the way for the implementation of administrative procedures and preparation of documentation for investment decision-making on the project, the infrastructure ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"We have set ourselves a clear goal of achieving net-zero emissions or climate neutrality by 2050. Both the National Energy and Climate Plan (NEPN) and the Climate Strategy recognise nuclear energy as an important part of the solution, given that nuclear energy, in coexistence with renewable energy sources, makes a vital contribution to the efficient transition of Slovenia towards a low-carbon electricity system and at the same time to the robustness of the electricity system," infrastructure minister Jernej Vrtovec said.
The energy permit was an important milestone because it allowed for the launch of a broad public debate on the further inclusion of nuclear energy in the electricity transition and the challenges associated with it, Vrtovec added.
"The feasibility studies carried out so far on the project have shown that JEK2 is a feasible and useful project for Slovenia's future reliable supply of home-generated electricity, which adequately responds to the key challenges of the energy trilemma and enables Slovenia to effectively face the challenges of the green electricity transition", the general director of state-owned company Gen-Energija, Martin Novsak, said.
Slovenia's plans for a new unit at the NPP drew fire from neighbouring Austria, whose Constitution bans the use of nuclear fission in its energy supply.
According to media reports, Austria's environment minister Leonore Gewessler has said 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 extension of the existing old blocks and the planned expansion represent a risk for the people of Austria, public broadcaster ORF quoted on Wednesday Gewessler as saying. "I have communicated these concerns to my Slovenian colleague and I expect them to be taken seriously," Gewessler said.
Krsko NPP, located in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, generates some 40% of Slovenia's electricity output. The NPP 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 Croatia's Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP).