Slovenia hopes to attract foreign investors to the project for the construction of a second unit at Krsko nuclear power plant (NPP), Austrian media reported.
The government aims to attract multiple foreign investors, including Austrian companies, despite the opposition of Vienna to the project, Austrian news agency APA quoted Slovenia’s prime minister Robert Golob as saying in an interview on Tuesday.
Slovenia’s infrastructure ministry issued an energy permit for the construction of a second reactor unit at Krsko in July 2021, but the decision drew fire from neighbouring Austria, whose constitution bans the use of nuclear fission in its energy supply.
Nuclear energy has its problems, but is certainly not causing climate change and the Slovenian government hopes that Austria will have the courage to embrace new solutions, as it has traditionally always been a progressive country, Golob said.
Slovenia hopes to make a decision on the construction of the second unit by 2026, Golob said. “I think that by the end of the legislative period, in the next three years, we will clearly define under what conditions Slovenia will start investing in a new nuclear power unit,” he said.
Last month, Slovenian energy minister Bojan Kumer said Slovenia will be able to make a decision on the construction of a second unit at Krsko NPP next year at the earliest. The timing of the decision, which will likely be voted on at a referendum, depends on the conclusions of a feasibility study being prepared by state-run energy group Gen-Energija as a potential investor, Kumer 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 Croatian power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP).
Source: SeeNews