Slovenia's Krsko Nuclear Plant Gets Another 20 Years

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Slovenia's only nuclear power plant is to get a 20-year life extension following an agreement with neighboring Croatia.

The plant, which is owned jointly by the countries, was due to shut down in 2023, but will now continue operating until 2043. With a generating capacity of 696 megawatts (MW), Krsko is located in Vrbina, on the banks of the Sava River in eastern Slovenia. It uses a single Westinghouse Electric Company (Monroeville, Pennsylvania) pressurized water reactor (PWR), which was commissioned in 1983, and was the first western nuclear plant built in Eastern Europe. Krsko supplies about 40% of Slovenia's electricity and 15% of Croatia's.

Both countries have also agreed to the construction of a dry-storage facility for used fuel at the site.

The Krsko plant is operated by Nuklearna Elektrarna Krsko (NEK), with power shared equally between Croatia and Slovenia, alongside responsibility for the disposal of the radioactive waste generated by the plant.

"We decided to extend Krsko nuclear plant's lifespan because it has good operational security, economic and investment results," said Peter Gaspersic, Slovenia's infrastructure minister, on Slovenian state radio.

NEK has plans to construct a second PWR unit at Krsko, with an estimated generating capacity of 1,000-1,700 MW and a price tag of approximately 4 billion euro ($4.4 billion). An application was made to the Economy Ministry in 2010, and a decision was expected in 2011, but this has been delayed. The new plant will be owned and operated by Slovenia.

Last year, the Slovenian government approved an investment plan for the construction of a national repository for low- and intermediate-level waste (LLW/ILW). The estimated cost is expected to be $214 million, and the repository will deal with half of the waste from the Krsko nuclear plant, as well as medical, research and industrial waste. Croatia has yet to decide whether it will contribute to the cost of the repository.

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