Slovenia sets up commission to speed up nuclear plant expansion - PM

The commission will study ways to speed up the expansion of the facility and make it more cost-effective on the basis of special legislation that will be adapted for such a large project, Golob said in a video posted on the website of the Slovenian government on Tuesday.

The commission will prepare the legal basis for the project and make sure that Slovenian citizens can make an informed decision on a referendum about whether to support the expansion of the plant, Golob added.

According to Slovenia's existing legislation, a new reactor at the plant can start operating no earlier than in 2049, which indicates the high complexity of the project, Golob said.

State-run energy group Gen-Energija considers that a new reactor could be connected to the grid in 2038, COO Danijel Levicar said in the video. "The goals of the working group and the investor are more short-term goals, how to bring the project to the final investment decision, which is expected sometime in 2027 or 2028 at the latest," he noted.

Last week, 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.

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 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).