Westinghouse to fix Slovenia's Krsko NPP

"A conservative decision was made to replace parts of the piping system on both lines of the system. The repair will be carried out by Westinghouse, the original equipment supplier," NEK said in a statement earlier this week.

NEK plans to transfer all 121 fuel elements from the reactor to a spent fuel pool by the end of the week to facilitate a thorough inspection and the replacement of components within the piping system.

Last week, NEK CEO Gorazd Pfeifer said the company plans to reconnect the facility to the grid in November. "We have committed all available resources to solve the situation. Good news arrived today on this, so I expect that the plant will be reconnected to the grid in November," Pfeifer said back then.

NEK shut down Krsko on October 5, after a leakage was detected in the primary system within the containment structure. The malfunction falls below the specified limit in technical regulations and poses no threat to the safety of employees, the public, or the environment, NEK said back then.

Krsko has been in continuous operation since November 2022, when NEK completed a regular overhaul, replacing 56 fuel elements out of 121 in total. The power plant conducts regular maintenance work every 18 months.

The facility operates a single Westinghouse pressurised light water reactor with a thermal power capacity of 2,000 MW.