State company says decision ‘based on business considerations’ Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) has decided to withdraw from the bidding competition for a planned new nuclear power station project in Slovenia The report follows an announcement last month that Slovenia’s state-owned power firm GEN Energija had signed contracts for feasibility studies with French energy company EDF and US-based Westinghouse Electric Company marking a key step towards the planned expansion of the single-unit Krško nuclear power station GEN Energia said at the time that KHNP would not submit a bid and would resign from taking part in the project GEN Energija referred to an assessment by KHNP of the current business environment and a change in the company’s business priorities It is in the east of the country on the border with Croatia and began commercial operation in 1983 Slovenia has been considering the construction of a second unit at the site Earlier reports said a final decision would be made in 2027 or 2028 with commercial operation in the mid-2040s BusinessKorea said observers speculate that KHNP is effectively withdrawing from the European nuclear market – where most of the demand for new nuclear power plants is concentrated – conceding it to EDF and Westinghouse BusinessKorea quoted a KHNP official as saying the company decided not to participate in the project “based on business considerations” including the Czech nuclear project and our focus on SMR development In July, KHNP was chosen as preferred bidder in a lucrative public tender to build two nuclear plants at Dukovany in the Czech Republic with the first unit scheduled to be online by 2036 Westinghouse partnered with the Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company to undertake the TFS Westinghouse Electric Company has signed a contract with Slovenia’s state-owned power company to evaluate the deployment of a reactor at the proposed Krško-II nuclear power plant The technical feasibility study (TFS) will evaluate the potential deployment of an AP1000® reactor Westinghouse has partnered with Hyundai Engineering & Construction Company to carry out the TFS The Krško-II project is planned on a site next to the current Krško nuclear power plant Westinghouse Energy Systems president Dan Lipman stated: “Since delivering the first Krško unit which has operated very successfully since it started operating in 1983 Westinghouse has built a decades-long partnership with GEN energija through operational and fueling support We are pleased to extend the relationship to closely study the feasibility of the Krško-II project “This potential AP1000 project will not only provide clean it will also deliver real economic benefits and high-quality jobs for years to come while fostering Slovenia’s energy independence.” The AP1000 reactor is a Generation III+ design featuring fully passive safety systems modular construction and a compact footprint per megawatt electric Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis Westinghouse is currently setting operational performance and availability records 12 further AP1000 units are under construction and five additional units are contracted 18 AP1000 reactors are expected to be operational globally The AP1000 technology has been chosen for nuclear energy projects in Poland and is being considered for locations in Europe Westinghouse, KEPCO and KHNP reached a global settlement in January 2025 to resolve their long-standing nuclear IP dispute paving the way for collaboration on new reactor deployments worldwide Give your business an edge with our leading industry insights View all newsletters from across the GlobalData Media network Westinghouse Electric is tasked with a technical feasibility study for the deployment of an AP1000 reactor in Slovenia 0 Slovenia is planning to build the second unit of its Krško nuclear power plant. GEN energija, the existing facility’s operator, revealed that Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) dropped out, leaving Westinghouse Electric and EDF in the race The state-owned utility said the focus this year of the NEK 2 project would be on spatial planning and internal studies Westinghouse Electric signed a contract with GEN energija to conduct a technical feasibility study for the deployment of an AP1000 reactor The United States–based contractor said it partnered with South Korean Hyundai Engineering and Construction for the task French state-owned EDF is conducting a separate study and both are worth EUR 8.3 million They are expected to be delivered by the end of September Half of the existing Krško nuclear power plant is owned by neighboring Croatia’s government-controlled Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group). The facility is based on Westinghouse’s technology There are six AP1000 reactors in operation for now in the world Westinghouse has built a decades-long partnership with GEN energija through operational and fueling support,” said President of Westinghouse Energy Systems Dan Lipman the potential AP1000 project will provide clean and reliable baseload power and deliver real economic benefits and high-quality jobs for years to come while fostering Slovenia’s energy independence Hyundai Engineering and Construction is its partner there as well GEN energija’s Chief Executive Officer Dejan Paravan commended the initiative by Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob to establish a comprehensive professional and constructive public debate on the country’s energy future “We are advocates of a combined scenario of renewable energy sources and nuclear energy, which in the long term enables the achievement of the goals for decarbonization energy self-sufficiency and economic and social development of Slovenia we are aware that every energy development scenario brings uncertainty and risks and that no technology is perfect,” he explained The utility said it would also conduct a preliminary feasibility analysis this year of projects for small modular reactors (SMRs) in Slovenia and and discuss the matter with providers of the technology Be the first one to comment on this article 02 May 2025 - The project is located in Constanța county recognized for its superior yields in green energy production 02 May 2025 - The Sunčana (Sunny) Vipava project envisages installing solar power plants with a combined capacity of 20 MW 30 April 2025 - OMV put into operation its 10 MW green hydrogen plant at the Schwechat refinery 30 April 2025 - It is the second time this year that MVM contracted gas-fueled and hydrogen-ready power plants at sites of former fossil fuel facilities © CENTER FOR PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT 2008-2020 website developed by ogitive Putin and Lukashenko speak on Union 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Download the pdf version Download the pdf version Download the pdf version Slovenia's parliament voted on October 24 to cancel the consultative referendum on the construction of a second nuclear reactor at the Krsko power plant, scheduled for November 24, news agency STA reported The now-cancelled referendum was intended to gauge public support for the Jek 2 project with estimated costs ranging from €9.3bn to €15.4bn. The NPP Krsko a joint venture between Slovenia's Gen Energija and Croatia's HEP currently supplies around 20% of Slovenia's electricity needs The motion was passed with 60 MPs in favour and one abstention in the 90-seat legislature On October 22, the speaker of parliament, Urska Klakocar Zupancic, unveiled a procedural plan to formally annul the referendum This plan followed an agreement among parliamentary parties to withdraw the proposal The ruling coalition, consisting of the Freedom Movement, Social Democrats (SocDems) and the Left, reached a consensus to cancel the referendum, citing a lack of sufficient public information on the project. The initiative to scrap the vote was originally put forward by the opposition Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) The project aimed to enhance Slovenia's electricity supply by adding a new low-carbon energy source amid growing concerns over energy security and climate change The decision to cancel the referendum comes in the wake of media reports raising concerns about the project and its transparency prompting lawmakers to reassess the need for a public vote Check the box to receive the e-magazine to your inbox every month for free Get notified when there's a new bne IntelliNews Podcasts added Asking the better questions that unlock new answers to the working world's most complex issues AI insights CFO agenda EY Center for board matters EY podcasts EY webcasts Operations leaders Technology leaders EY helps clients create long-term value for all stakeholders our services and solutions provide trust through assurance and help clients transform EY.ai - A unifying platform Strategy, transaction and transformation consulting Technology transformation Tax function operations Climate change and sustainability services EY Ecosystems EY Nexus: business transformation platform Experienced professionals EY-Parthenon careers Student and entry level programs Talent community our purpose is building a better working world The insights and services we provide help to create long-term value for clients Exploring scenarios for the world in five years reveals divergent paths for geopolitics EY CEO confidence index assesses CEO sentiment across sector growth Stakeholders are challenging businesses to go further faster in their efforts to be more sustainable Multidisciplinary professional services organization FFrom a difficult inception in 1995 and having undergone three significant challenges the Evrosad group has come to own more than 500 hectares of land Their annual output of around 20,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables represents roughly a third of Slovenia’s entire production They chiefly export apples to large retail chains and specialized fruit wholesalers in 18 countries 13 of which are in the EU and six in the Middle East The story of Evrosad from Krško began with Ivan Kozole and is today continued by his son who sees only challenges rather than obstacles in his path when they bought 270 hectares of orchards with all the associated equipment machinery and inventory from Mercator Agrokombinat Ivan and his partner were joined by Ivan’s son Boštjan who is now in the process of taking over the company after taking over mechanization and cold storage which had not been renovated for seven years and were sorely in need of repair “Only my father’s courage and his belief in the fruit industry paved our entrepreneurial path out of the system,” comments Boštjan Boštjan first imagined his future was in the law before finding his passion in handball and sports management In 1995 he was working as a semi-professional director of the Krško Handball Association “Who knows where life would have led me if father hadn’t founded Evrosad when he did,” says Boštjan His experience with sports management left an important mark as he discovered the motivation that comes from working with a success-driven team His first role in Evrosad was to cover legal matters and manage all the processes involved in denationalization “The Slovenian Denationalization Act from 1992 was very awkward; properties were supposed to be returned in kind Completion of these processes took around 10 years and some issues still remain open,” explains Boštjan circumstances led him to take over exports when one of the workers had to go on medical leave Then his father Ivan let him know that he expected him to get a diploma The thesis Boštjan defended at the Gea College focused on the restructuring of Evrosad and was very much practice based outside influences and anxiety over whether there will be anything to harvest cause many people to throw in the towel this is the motivation they need to adapt and find better solutions and Boštjan says that Evrosad was forged in the fire of three important challenges I was finishing my degree and taking over the management of the company but he took a step back and was focusing on his area of expertise as an agronomist but it never got so bad that we could not continue working together the next day,” explains Boštjan where they had exported half of their products and change our strategy and philosophy,” says Boštjan “With this first milestone we set a good foundation and put Evrosad on the international map of fruit and vegetable producers.” After 2004 they also began exporting to Romania one of their most important customers today followed in 2010 and two years later they secured entry to the Egyptian market when Russia placed an embargo on European imports “The Russian embargo caused great damage to our sector,” emphasizes Boštjan Evrosad responded with a period of great diversification during which the Ormož company transitioned to organic production “We increased the production of pears and peaches plums and last year also expanded to vegetables which are becoming an increasingly important segment,” explains Boštjan only Evrosad is importing kiwis from New Zealand Recently we also opened a market and started distributing fruit and vegetables at the highest level,” he says proudly “I said to myself: If the French and the Italians export Evrosad also focused on protection against climatic challenges The third challenge and milestone for this family company was meteorological The 2016 frost destroyed 75% of their crops and the following year’s similar conditions took 95% In 2018 the harvest was too successful and consumption reduced In the last two years they have again faced frost but this year with the added complication of the coronavirus a misting system to prevent frost damage and a sorting center We also expanded our cold storage by a factor of three,” explains Boštjan “Our goal is not to become the largest company in our sector but we want to be the best,” says Boštjan which means that final consumers can bite into an Evrosad apple only a few hours after it was picked As the biggest fruit and vegetable grower in Slovenia they see themselves as part of the industrial sector: “Agriculture is all too often put into a separate category It’s true that this industry is unique in many ways but we are still talking about products with certain associated costs 23 of which grow fruit and seven produce vegetables They also collaborate with the universities of Ljubljana and Maribor An advantage of their collaboration with local producers is higher quality products on which the company spends several thousand euros per year show that their fruit and vegetables are healthy and of high quality “Our strawberries may only survive four or five days in the fridge and not two or more weeks like the Italian and Spanish ones as ours are so delicious that you will eat them in less than an hour It’s the same things with peaches; the Italian ones are beautiful The scent of our old heirloom varieties is obvious from feet away,” points out Boštjan Boštjan has created a new range of brandy made from William pears is retiring from the company at the age of 78 “I have formally taken over the management of the company but father is still an authorized representative,” explains Boštjan which are still grown in the family hometown in the fruit growing region of Marof “The bottles were designed by my nephew Emil Kozole with a label telling the story of my father as a young man when he worked for a fruit grower during the year and distilled a special drink during the winter,” says Boštjan The company is also starting a campaign to promote local Slovenian fruit aligned with existing campaigns for local milk and meat One aim of the campaign is to educate consumers about locally available seasonal fruit and vegetables as the common belief that all fruit and vegetables should be available all year round is simply not sustainable The concept of local self-sufficiency became even more important during the coronavirus pandemic Evrosad noticed that the demand for local fruit and vegetables increased dramatically “People wanted to take care of their immune systems and health which is the only Slovenian-grown fruit available in March and April,” say Boštjan about this difficult period Their new approach will allow them to grow the company and encourage Slovenians to reject imported produce in favor of locally grown Evrosad in a nutshell: entrepreneurial spirit of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited Ljubljana has said plant could be online in mid-2040s Slovenia’s state-owned power firm GEN Energija has signed contracts for feasibility studies with French energy company EDF and US-based Westinghouse Electric Company GEN Energja said in a statement that the third reactor technology bidder South Korea’s KHNP has pulled out of the project The company said the technical feasibility studies will include technological and legal requirements The studies will ensure that the project is planned based on “realistic technical possibilities” Westinghouse confirmed the contract and said it will partner with South Korea’s Hyundai Engineering & Construction to explore the possibility of deploying an AP1000 reactor unit at Krško An EDF spokesperson confirmed the deal and said the contract will take six months to complete EDF’s vice-president for international nuclear development said on social media EDF’s feasibility study will focus on its EPR technology and will assess site-specific conditions GEN Energja said key activities for 2025 will be a siting process and the continuation of expert studies the company announced a public tender for the preparation of the feasibility studies with each bidder conducting one separately They are expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2025 GEN Energija said the third potential bidder for the Krško new-build project will not submit a bid and will resign from taking part in the project Slovenian authorities approved a 20-year operating lifetime extension to Krško meaning the reactor unit could operate until 2043 Krško is owned equally by Croatian utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda and Slovenia’s state-owned power generator the parent company of power company Gen Energija current plans for a new Krško reactor are being pursued solely by Slovenia the Slovenian parliament in Ljubljana called off a referendum on the construction of a second nuclear plant It is not clear whether the referendum will be rescheduled although lawmakers have said it is not a legal requirement for the project to proceed In an interview with Balkan Green Energy News GEN’s CEO Dejan Paravan explains why he believes nuclear energy is the right solution 0 Dejan Paravan takes stock of his two years at the helm of GEN analyzes Europe’s response to the energy crisis and recommends ways to prevent solar cannibalization Paravan also presents the recent changes in the calculation of network charges in Slovenia and explains what they mean for citizens and the economy Dejan Paravan, who took over as CEO of GEN during the energy crisis, in October 2022, says the task wasn’t easy, but that he is satisfied with what he and his team managed to achieve. In 2023, the company’s profit hit an all-time high of EUR 204.5 million “We achieved this despite bearing the cost of price regulation for households and small businesses which reduced our revenue by EUR 200 million and despite the longest unscheduled shutdown of the Krško nuclear power plant in history which lasted 43 days and cost us EUR 50 million,” Paravan points out He says he expects this year’s profit to meet the target or even exceed it while noting that price regulation will reduce the company’s revenue by EUR 100 million it was uncertain whether there would be enough electricity and gas for the winter This was hardly expected when he took the helm of the company in the final quarter of 2022 “There was so much uncertainty about what would happen over the winter that it wasn’t even clear whether there would be enough electricity and gas in Europe,” recalls Paravan Although he is convinced that Europe weathered the crisis well he also admits that it came at a great cost he says that Europe managed to avoid the pitfall of each country acting alone “It was a kind of maturity test for the European Union Another reason was the EU’s success in quickly finding an alternative to Russian gas there is a bitter taste given how much Europe paid for the crisis Paravan also cites the EU competitiveness report by Mario Draghi the former Prime Minister of Italy and President of the European Central Bank “It clearly states that the energy crisis has left Europe highly uncompetitive when it comes to electricity and gas prices for the economy This is something that should concern everyone,” he points out the company’s main priority is the Krško 2 nuclear power plant project (JEK 2) has had a very good experience with nuclear energy over the past 40 years The Krško power plant has been in operation since 1983 its output accounted for nearly 37% of domestic electricity production with half of it supplied to the Croatian state power utility “Krško’s production and safety indicators are among the best in the world it was logical for GEN to start working on the Krško 2 project back in 2006 progress was slow because there was never enough support,” he says The project has benefited from the energy and climate crises Another important factor is the support provided by the Government of Slovenia The price of electricity from the new nuclear power plant would depend on financing costs Opponents of nuclear energy have many objections, including the lengthy construction time of nuclear power plants and concerns that the total cost can rise significantly by the time the project is completed they often cite the example of Britain’s Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant which was originally planned to be operational by 2025 but is now not expected to be online until 2030 with the total cost estimated at between GBP 31 billion and GBP 34 billion Paravan believes this is because very few nuclear power plants have been built in the Western world in recent years resulting in contractors lacking sufficient experience Russia and China have built a large number of nuclear power plants completing them on time and without increased costs “That’s why we believe the nuclear energy revival will improve the performance of Western contractors does not have the capacity to offset construction delays with other projects That’s why we must take this project as seriously as possible This will ensure that we do not compromise on the terms and price of construction,” he says adding that Slovenia intends to select projects that have already been built somewhere When it comes to the price of electricity from the future nuclear power plant Paravan says that it would largely depend on the financing costs anyone who wants a competitive price must ensure low financing costs and this can only be achieved if the state plays an active role in financing Slovenia is considering five projects from three companies “Five projects, ranging from 1,000 MW to 1,650 MW and two from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) The chosen capacity will determine the choice of both the project and the contractor,” explains Paravan which is also cited as one of the challenges by which time the final investment decision should also be made Paravan stresses that there is interest in financing the project, and that it is growing. “Several countries have also shown interest in participating as co-investors but it remains one of the options,” says Paravan Slovenia has used up its hydropower potential Critics claim Slovenia doesn’t need nuclear energy because it has renewable energy sources Paravan replies that forecasts predict electricity consumption in Slovenia will double by 2050 while the planned coal phaseout involves shutting down the Šoštanj thermal power plant Slovenia has only nuclear and renewable energy at its disposal,” he says as the hydro potential has been exhausted and wind power projects face serious challenges in finding suitable locations When asked what will happen if citizens do not back Krško 2 in the upcoming referendum he says that backup options must be activated “This would mean relying on renewable energy sources it is important to reiterate that nuclear energy is carbon-free and has little impact on biodiversity and land use the company built solar power plants for households and businesses with a total capacity of 70 MW from small ones for prosumers to those with larger capacity We expect to install the first larger batteries next year in Slovenia with a total capacity of 10 MW/20 MWh,” he says In the solar energy segment, GEN-I provides a full range of services. It has established two energy cooperatives in partnership with local authorities and households that lacked the conditions to install their own panels were given the opportunity to join the cooperatives and secure electricity for self-consumption “It’s a model where we see a lot of potential because there are a lot of people who can’t put solar panels on their roofs,” says Paravan Contracts for difference and batteries can help tackle solar cannibalization so we asked Paravan if the cannibalization effect could potentially hinder its growth One of them is space – Slovenia has no problem installing power plants on roofs but there are still very few large ground-mounted power plants He believes that the main culprit is the permitting procedure The other challenge is cannibalization and negative prices which reduce the profitability of solar investments and pose a risk for investors “The first solution is administrative: the state should assume part of the risk through, for example, a contract for difference (CfD) namely the installation of batteries.” The former is short-term and they can be combined,” says Paravan Solar will make up a significant part of the power system of the future, in which smart grids will be indispensable GEN’s focus is on the end consumer and ways to support the grid Slovenia is poised for major changes as the new methodology for calculating network charges came into force on October 1 He is convinced the new methodology will respond much better to current grid challenges and provide an incentive for consumers to offer different services to the system Changing the methodology means shifting the focus from energy to power “The methodology also opens up opportunities for suppliers, such as GEN-I, to offer new services to consumers to optimize consumption. This includes, for example, time-of-use tariffs,” says Paravan These tariffs allow consumers to lower their bills if they consume electricity at certain times of the day but also those they will use in the future Paravan explains that the network has its limitations and that the first goal must be to optimize the consumption and production of electricity at a certain location so as to reduce interaction with the grid to a minimum “Changing the methodology also means shifting the focus from energy to power And all that is a prerequisite for a smart grid,” concludes Paravan and nuclear power plants will not help if they fail to meet one key standard: energy security which is indispensable to the energy sector today one must keep in mind that the whole world but there is one problem: we could soon end up destroying the planet,” he points out the world is shifting to other energy sources “We will face more frequent situations where the security of supply is threatened, as was the case last summer when a major power outage affected Albania Ensuring energy security will require effort and that’s why the prices will go up,” claims Paravan He believes that nuclear power plants can ensure that security not only in Slovenia but also in the region are planning their energy independence based on renewable energy sources and gas Krško 2 could provide the necessary stability helping regional systems ensure a reliable energy supply,” asserts Paravan 10 February 2025 - In an interview with Balkan Green Energy News minister Sanja Božinovska discussed the country’s top energy priorities and the steps needed to achieve them 23 December 2024 - The Green for Growth Fund recently topped EUR 1 billion in AUM and the demand for its offering is steadily picking up the Director for GGF at Finance in Motion Borislav Kostadinov revealed 22 October 2024 - UGT Renewables and Hyundai Engineering are at the forefront of the US-Serbia energy cooperation agreement 08 October 2024 - In an interview with Balkan Green Energy News The reactor was shut down on 6 October at 05:30 as a precaution after indications there was a leak in the primary system in the containment building Subsequent investigation discovered what the company said was a "hole the size of a sewing needle at the weld of the reducing part of the piping connection system of the primary circuit Possible causes of the problem were identified as "a hidden defect in the welding process All 121 fuel elements were removed from the reactor vessel and the pipeline ultrasonically inspected to discover the cause of the leak NEK said the investigations suggested an "additional anomaly in the pipeline material was identified in the leaking pipe" which led to the decision to replace the affected pipeline A "conservative" decision was taken together with original equipment supplier Westinghouse to also replace pipeline on the other line of the system "The possibility of an increased scope of remediation was already considered when ordering the necessary material .. all the material is already available in Krško The first pipeline is successfully removed; preparations are under way for the removal of the second and the installation of new pipeline segments. For now plans to reconnect the power plant to the grid in mid-November remain unchanged," said NEK The repair work is being overseen by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration In its report on the initial discovery of the leak it explained: "The primary coolant leak detected during full power operation did not exceed the operational limit that would require shut down of the plant The integrity of the primary system is continuously controlled during plant operation by various leak testing systems mainly: radioactivity of particles and atmosphere conditions in the containment measurement of liquid level at the bottom of the containment sump and water inflow from the volume control system The indication of the leak was identified from the trend of the water inflow from the volume control system The leak rate was approximately a factor of 4 below the operating limit the plant personnel decided to shut down the plant as a precautionary measure All other parameters (containment pressure and temperature etc) were within normal conditions during this situation and were not affected by the leakage all parameters were within normal conditions during shut down of the plant." While the shutdown takes place some outage activities which the safety administration had approved for the scheduled shutdown next year are being brought forward which may shorten the duration of the 2024 outage Krško is a 696 MWe Westinghouse pressurised water reactor located on the Sava river It is unusual in being jointly owned by two countries: Slovenia both of which were parts of the former Yugoslavia when Krško came online in 1981 - NEK is jointly owned by Croatia's Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group) and Slovenia's GEN Energija It supplies as much as 40% of Slovenia's electricity and the parliament voted overwhelmingly to hold a referendum on the construction of the Krško 2 nuclear power plant 0 The National Assembly in Ljubljana canceled the consultative referendum on the nuclear power plant Krško 2 project, called Jedrska Elektrarna Krško 2 or JEK 2 in Slovenian It follows a unanimous decision by the parliamentary Committee for Infrastructure Environment and Spatial Planning to annul the decision to organize the plebiscite Previously, on October 10, the lawmakers passed the referendum proposal with a large majority of votes. However, a series of events unfolded, which caused great risk to a yes vote, according to Delo TEŠ generates about 30% of the domestic power production while the country needs to meet decarbonization goals An audio recording was leaked from a meeting of lawmakers from both the ruling coalition and opposition and government officials the referendum was canceled after a scandalous attempt by Slovenian political parties to circumvent the referendum process to push through the nuclear power project Namely, RTV Slovenija published an audio recording of alleged informal talks within the parliament building which demonstrates that voters wouldn’t have any say regardless of the referendum outcome Lawmakers from both the ruling coalition and opposition and government officials were reportedly at the meeting The leak revealed they intended to circumvent the legislation and outmaneuver the referendum process to speed up the JEK 2 project Greenpeace and other nongovernmental organizations claimed the referendum was premature arguing there was too little information about the project for the voters to make an informed decision “Do you support the implementation of the Krško 2 project which will ensure a stable supply of electricity together with other low-carbon sources?” was labeled as suggestive and manipulative by Greenpeace Slovenia and several other NGOs in the country Two applications have been filed with the Constitutional Court challenging the referendum Greenpeace Slovenia and its partners demand a law that would determine a referendum as a prerequisite for the final decision on the JEK 2 investment Kosirnik: The government should provide a 100% renewables scenario “After the political actors were caught red-handed they are now withdrawing their support for the referendum because they are afraid that people will tell them what they don’t want to hear,” said Sara Kosirnik climate and energy campaigner from Slovenia Instead of misleading the public and undemocratically pushing through an expensive nuclear energy project that would only be built decades from now the government should provide a 100% renewables scenario that would offer people safe has little impact on biodiversity and land use In an recent interview with Balkan Green Energy News Dejan Paravan said that in order to secure enough electricity Slovenia has only nuclear and renewable energy at its disposal If citizens don’t back Krško 2 in the upcoming referendum he said Slovenia must rely on renewable energy sources Paravan noted that nuclear energy is carbon-free Gov’t targeting operation of second reactor in 2040s Slovenia’s state-owned power company GEN Energija is to make public research showing that ​​the location of the existing Krško nuclear power station and a planned new reactor is safe from the point of view of seismic activity The company also said it will also publish further studies related to various aspects of the new-build project before a final decision is taken and a planned referendum is held GEN Energija said that, at the request of the Ministry of the Environment, Space & Energy, a series of documents related to various studies and reviews will be published on the new-build project website by October to enable people to make an informed decision in the referendum Slovenia wants to build a new nuclear plant at the Krško site In an update on its new build plans GEN Energija said that to assess the seismic risk in the area of ​​the existing Krško plant and the planned location of JEK2 two types of analysis had been used based on internationally established methodology – probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis (PFDHA) A PSHA was ordered by Slovenian nuclear utility Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) in 1994 and 2004 geological and seismological research was carried out That research led one of the four partners France’s Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire to express concerns about a possible active fault and suggest performing a PFDHA Other project partners including the Geological Survey of Slovenia did not express similar concerns GEN Energija commissioned the PFDHA and an international independent review which concluded that the probability of fault movements was “insignificant” This was followed by another PFDHA in 2013 which concluded there were extremely small negligible risks of exceeding surface displacements for engineering needs The authors of the study and the independent international reviewers agreed that the danger was negligible and did not pose a risk to the existing or to the new nuclear power station The third and final phase of the project is undergoing an independent international review which was built in cooperation with US company Westinghouse The facility is co-owned in equal shares by the governments of Slovenia and neighbouring Croatia Slovenia has been considering the construction of a second plant at the site and earlier reports said a final decision on the project would be made in 2027 or 2028 with commercial operation in the mid-2040s Amid public discussions on the referendum on Krško 2 a group of Slovenian businesspeople requested to participate in the investment 0 The initiative has pointed to signals from the government that the country’s only coal plant, Termoelektrarna Šoštanj (TEŠ), is heading toward closure The group said a new nuclear plant is essential for the security of electricity supply Paravan estimated that the new facility could be completed in 2040 after seven years of construction He expressed the belief that Slovenia wouldn’t be able to meet its energy needs from domestic renewables alone GEN energija operates the Krško nuclear plant The country’s energy-intensive companies have highlighted the trend of deindustrialization in Europe and the home market mostly attributing it to high energy prices At the first of the two public discussions that the Ministry of the Environment Climate and Energy organized ahead of the plebiscite Paravan brushed off concerns that Krško 2 could become a stranded investment like TEŠ 6 The price of coal and carbon emissions together account for more than 70% of electricity costs while in a nuclear power plant fuel has only a 10% share in the expenses serious work is ahead until a final investment decision can be made Paravan added at the event in the capital Ljubljana the construction of a new reactor opens many questions He highlighted the issues of project costs nuclear waste management and spatial planning Co-founder and CEO of NGEN Roman Bernard said the key is to forecast the price of electricity 15 to 20 years from now The question is not whether to build NEK 2 “Technology in the energy sector is developing extremely quickly Prices of solar systems will drastically decline in the following years The green transition with the decentralization of the power system and the appearance of energy storage systems is turning the energy industry upside down The cheapest electricity is one produced where it is consumed because it does not need a transport route,” Bernard warned Installing solar power plants with storage systems lowers required network investments It is realistic to believe that seasonal storage solutions would be developed Of note, France’s state-owned energy company EDF and the International Institute of Nuclear Energy I2EN signed memoranda of understanding last week with Slovenian scientific institutions on cooperation in civil nuclear energy use ELES CEO Aleksander Mervar wrote a feasibility study for various scenarios defined in the NECP 0 The study of the feasibility of various scenarios defined in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), with an emphasis on the analysis of the 100% renewables scenario by 2050 was carried out by Aleksander Mervar and his colleagues at the request of the Ministry of Environment Along with the study, ELES also published a correction of the analysis of the 100% RES scenario The company said it issued the two documents due to great media interest ELES said it intendeds to prevent media and political speculation about the findings of the study as well as manipulation and misinterpretation The documents were subject to different interpretations by the supporters and opponents of the Krško 2 nuclear power project, or JEK 2 in Slovenian. Also, they were part of the controversy around the decision to cancel the consultative referendum on JEK 2. The vote was scheduled for November 24 ELES pointed out it submitted the basic study to the ministry on August 26 and that the author amended it in October due to new facts The most favorable one is to operate the Krško power plant until 2063 and install solar power plants with an overall capacity of 3,250 MW It implies investments of an estimated EUR 24.4 billion is to keep the existing nuclear plant working until 2063 and build photovoltaic plants of 7,000 MW in total The third-ranked scenario doesn’t include nuclear energy and envisages the installation of solar power plants with a combined capacity of 8,595 MW The expenses are seen at EUR 27.1 billion in that case Mervar stressed all three scenarios are feasible and threats) analysis for the three scenarios and a 100% renewable energy case saying he intended to help the decision makers The rankings change when operation and maintenance costs and energy storage losses are included But on page 45 he clarified that the calculations excluded operation and maintenance costs as well as the losses in the battery charge-discharge cycle and in case of pumped storage hydropower plants between filling the upper reservoir and generating electricity the cheapest scenario is the one without nuclear energy The one with both nuclear facilities is the most expensive – EUR 53.9 billion euros The cost of the 100% RES option is estimated at EUR 85.9 billion In the corrected analysis of the 100% RES scenario the cost of the cheapest scenario grows to EUR 39.4 billion and the most expensive one to EUR 55.2 billion ELES said the 100% RES scenario is neither realistic nor feasible The company underscored it is economically meaningless for the Slovenian power system for the government as the potential provider of subsidies for investors in solar power plants without subsidies and for Slovenia’s end consumers of electricity Mervar doesn’t include the production of pumped-storage hydropower plants and batteries in the 100% RES scenario just production from renewable energy power plants ELES’s CEO supports a scenario with balanced renewable energy a combination of energy storage capacity and green hydrogen production and a strategic reserve in the form of gas power plants to serve for handling emergency situations in Europe “I support a well-designed low-carbon scenario,” Mervar stressed The figures are from the studies on grid connection and investment valuation for the Krško 2 nuclear power plant project 0 The figures are from the studies on grid connection and investment valuation for the Krško 2 nuclear power plant project (JEK 2). Energy company GEN Energija presented them It revealed that it sent a draft proposal to the government to start spatial planning on a national level for the construction of the facility The project is widely discussed in Slovenia and its prospects will be revealed after citizens vote in a referendum GEN Energija said it would open an information office in the building of the Municipality of Krško in June and organize a roadshow in several cities Aleksandar Momirovski from the Milan Vidmar Electrical Institute (Elektroinštitut Milan Vidmar) presented the study on the grid connection of power plants with a capacity ranging from 1,000 MW to 2,400 MW The authors examined the electricity system’s safety and stability The price of electricity ranges from EUR 66 to EUR 144 per MWh Regarding the safety and stability of the system the optimal size of JEK 2 is up to 1,300 MW He stressed the new generation unit would require balancing services GEN Energija Chief Financial Officer Kruno Abramovič presented the investment cost assessment which are not based on binding offers from potential suppliers of equipment and services a 1,000 MW power plant would cost EUR 9.3 billion and EUR 15.4 billion is the price for a 1,650 MW plant The company stressed that the calculation doesn’t include financing costs and announced it would hire a third party to audit the report The result will be presented before the referendum The price of electricity from the nuclear power plant the financial structure and sources of financing will be known and determined before the final investment decision is made The cost of financing will have a big impact on the project, so the government’s role is very important, CEO Dejan Paravan underscored GEN Energija said the Krško 2 nuclear power plant should ensure a stable supply of electricity for at least 60 years or 80 years or more in the case of an extension of its lifespan 05 May 2025 - The delegations from the two countries met on the sidelines of the 10th summit meeting of the Three Seas Initiative 05 May 2025 - The Trebinje 3 photovoltaic plant would have an installed capacity of 53.63 MW and an estimated annual production of 85.5 GWh 05 May 2025 - VDE Renewables found that SolarEdge’s advanced safety capabilities minimize photovoltaic system risks and effectively prevent fire hazards At its regular monthly meeting with journalists GEN energija detailed preparations it was making ahead of a referendum planned later this year on construction of the new JEK2 NPP Slovenia plans to build a new nuclear plant (Krško-II) adjacent to the existing NPP a 696 MWe pressurised water reactor operated by Slovenian nuclear utility Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) and co-owned by neighbouring Croatia The plant generates about a third of the Slovenia’s electricity The project will be subject of a referendum later this year GEN energija CEO Dejan Paravan said in 2023 that three technology providers were being considered – US Westinghouse France’s EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power GEN energija presented research showing that ​​the location of the existing Krsko NPP and the planned JEK2 is safe from the point of view of seismic activity and said it will also publish further studies related to various aspects of the JEK2 project before a final decision is taken The company also noted the success of the travelling interactive presentation of the JEK2 project which is visiting places throughout Slovenia in June and July GEN energija said that to assess the seismic risk in the area of ​​the existing Krsko NPP and the planned location of JEK2 two types of analysis had been used based on internationally established methodology – the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis PSHA) and the probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis (PFDHA) A PSHA was ordered by NEK in 1994 and 2004 geological and seismological research was carried out for a new NPP in the Krška basin one of the four partners (France’s IRSN – Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire) expressed concerns about a possible active fault and suggested performing a PFDHA The other project partners – French Geological Survey (BRGM – Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières) Slovenia’s National Building & Civil Engineering Institute (ZAG – Zavod za gradbeništvo Slovenije) and the Geological Survey of Slovenia (GeoZS – Geološki zavod Slovenije) – did not express similar concerns GEN energija commissioned the PFDHA and an international independent review that the probability of fault movements was insignificant which concluded that for both the eastern and western locations in Krško Both the authors of the study and the independent international reviewers agreed that the danger was negligible and did not pose a risk to the existing or to the new nuclear power plant The current final third phase of the project is undergoing an independent international review at the request of the Ministry of the Environment a series of documents related to various studies and reviews will be published on the JEK2 website by October to enable citizens to make an informed decision in the referendum View all newsletters from across the Progressive Media network © Business Trade Media International Limited and the Milan Vidmar Electrical Institute (EMV – Elektroinštitut Milan Vidmar) have presented new studies and internal economic calculations related to the JEK2 nuclear new build project a 696 MWe pressurised water reactor co-owned by neighbouring Croatia A nuclear power plant with a pressurised water reactor (PWR) similar to the existing unit operated by Slovenian nuclear utility Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) The reason for the use of pressurised water technology is the knowledge and experience that NEK and scientific institutions have accumulated over the last 40 years both in terms of operation and administrative control GEN energija CEO Dejan Paravan said three technology providers were being considered – US Westinghouse France’s EDF and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power – who all had strengths and “the decision will not be easy” with respect to the impact on the electric power network the optimal size of JEK2 is up to 1,300 MWe of net electric power Based on the data collected and received so far which represents the best internal assessment of GEN energija the estimated investment value of JEK2 puts overnight construction costs at €9.3bn ($10bn) for a power plant of 1,000 MWe and €15.4bn for a plant of 1,650 MWe GEN energija has sent the draft material for the JEK2 State Spatial Plan (DPN – državnega prostorskega načrta) for review to the Ministry of Environment Climate & Energy (MOPE – Ministrstvo za Okolje Podnebje in Energijo) and the Ministry of Natural Resources & Spatial Planning (MNVP – Ministrstvo za Naravne Vire in Prostor) for coordination gave an estimated timeline with milestones from the start of DPN preparation this year to plant construction in 2039 After harmonizing the comments of the competent ministries on the proposed DPN Initiative there will be a public presentation during which the spatial planning authorities will offer guidelines and the public will be able to make suggestions and ask questions This will be followed by an analysis of the guidelines and adoption of a government decision on the DPN Initiation An environmental report will then be prepared as part of a comprehensive environmental impact assessment and technology study The adoption of the DPN Regulation is planned for 2027 followed by a final investment decision (FID) in 2028 Executive Director for Finance at GEN energija said the financial structure and sources of financing will be known and determined before the FID GEN energija alone is not able to provide all the financial resources for JEK2 therefore the role of the state in the implementation of such an important strategic project will be crucial The plant will provide a stable and reliable supply of electricity for at least 60 (and possible 80) years and will provide an estimated 5,640 new jobs in 10 years GEN energija will open an information office in the Krško Municipality in June In order to raise awareness and inform the wider Slovenian public about the JEK2 project GEN energija is holding a traveling presentation of the project in the form of an interactive centre over the coming months GEN energija will also regularly publish information about the project on the JEK2 project website and provide objective media coverage of energy sources and the project through proactive and reactive communication with the media the head of Corporate Communication & Sustainability Development at GEN energija said the public presentations would include models of what JEK2 would look like He also emphasised the importance of transparency and the choice of the right providers are in fact the actual NPPs of Korean KHNP American Westinghouse and French EDF operators already standing and operating around the world” He added that technical dialogue would continue with all three providers “to be able to talk about achieving the best possible price” He stressed the importance of making the procedures as transparent as possible with the support of both coalition and opposition votes has approved the call for a consultative referendum on the provision of electricity with the second unit at the Krsko NPP and other low-carbon sources The National Assembly also adopted a resolution on the long-term peaceful use of nuclear energy in Slovenia The programme document demonstrates political support for the continued use and development of nuclear energy The referendum is expected to be held at the end of November If you would like to learn more about the IAEA’s work sign up for our weekly updates containing our most important news An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team of experts has completed a review of long term operational safety at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Slovenia The Pre-SALTO (Safety Aspects of Long Term Operation) review mission was requested by the plant’s operator SALTO teams review the safe long term operation of NPPs based on IAEA safety standards Construction on the Krško NPP began in 1975 and it was first connected to the grid in 1981 It is Slovenia’s only nuclear reactor and co-owned by neighbouring Croatia Krško is equipped with one pressurized-water reactor and has a net electrical output of 696 MW(e) The operator plans to extend Krško’s operations until 2043 Pre-SALTO missions take place in advance of a plant entering the Long Term Operation (LTO) period the SALTO team reviewed the plant’s preparedness The review team found staff at the plant to be professional open and receptive to suggestions for improvement “We observed that the operator is implementing preparations for safe LTO in a timely manner,” said team leader and IAEA Nuclear Safety Officer Martin Marchena “A number of ageing management and LTO activities already meet IAEA safety standards The SALTO team encourages the plant to address the review findings and progress with the implementation of all remaining activities for safe LTO.” “We appreciate the IAEA's support to our plant in ageing management and preparation for safe LTO,” said Stane Rožman “The results of this mission will help us to improve our activities for safe LTO and to further align them with IAEA safety standards.” The ten person team - comprising experts from Belgium the United Kingdom and three IAEA staff members - identified good practices and good performances that will be shared with the nuclear industry globally The team also provided recommendations to further enhance the preparations for LTO safety: The plant management expressed a determination to address the areas identified for improvement The team provided a draft report to the plant management and to the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) the country’s nuclear regulatory authority The plant management and SNSA will have an opportunity to make factual comments on the draft A final report will be submitted to the plant management SNSA and the Slovenian Government within three months Neither SALTO nor OSART reviews are regulatory inspections nor are they design reviews or substitutes for an exhaustive assessment of a plant's overall safety status LTO of nuclear power plants is defined as operation beyond an established time frame determined by the license term consideration should be given to life limiting processes and features of systems as well as to reasonably practicable safety upgrades to enhance the safety of the plant to a level approaching that of modern plants The IAEA Safety Standards provide a robust framework of fundamental principles They reflect an international consensus and serve as a global reference for protecting people and the environment from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation The study will examine "the costs associated with the disposal of the two countries’ shared inventory of pressurised water reactor spent fuel assemblies in either generic crystalline basement geologies or shale geologies such as at the Krško power plant" Cost comparisons will be provided for vertical and horizontal boreholes said: "The inventory of waste at Krško is extremely well suited to boreholes and we are keen to help the governments of Croatia and Slovenia to optimise their waste management strategy for Krško." head of planning and development at the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Management Organisation (ARAO), said: "We are working in parallel to update our estimates for the option to construct a mined repository for this waste as well as working with Deep Isolation to quantify the economic benefits of the deep borehole option. These projects will provide us with important cost data to inform our updated waste management strategy for Krško in 2024." The new study follows Deep Isolation work last year on a wider of deep borehole disposal in various European countries and one for ARAO as an option for disposal of the TRIGA II research reactor's waste in Slovenia That study concluded the most cost-effective option would be to build one deep borehole repository for fuel from both the research reactor and Krško nuclear power plant jointly commissioned by ARAO and Croatia's Fund for Financing the Decommissioning of the Krško NPP (Fond-NEK) is due to be delivered in February Krško is a Westinghouse pressurised water reactor located on the Sava river both of which were parts of the former Yugoslavia when Krško came online in 1981 It supplies as much as 40% of Slovenia's electricity and has had its lifetime extended so it can operate until 2043 The review process included several rounds of public consultations and cross-border assessments involving Croatia The ministry’s decision is in line with Slovenian environmental legislation and the provisions of the Espoo and Aarhus Conventions The Espoo Convention ensures international cooperation in assessing and managing the environmental impact of planned activities The Arhaus Convention grants the public various rights related to transparency on matters concerning the environment an action plan for the life extension will be finalised by mid-2023 He said all procedures are in a “final phase” including a periodical inspection by the Nuclear Safety Administration of Slovenia which carries out safety reviews every 10 years International Atomic Energy Agency data shows that Krško provided about 37% of Slovenia’s electricity production share in 2021 The plant was built in cooperation with US company Westinghouse and began commercial operation in 1983 It was originally scheduled to close in 2023 Slovenia said in 2021 it wants to build a second nuclear unit at Krško with a decision reportedly due by 2027 The Krško nuclear power station is co-owned by Slovenia and Croatia "The 16th and final HI-STORM FW dry storage system was placed into the dry storage building at NEK's (Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško) Krško nuclear power plant last week," Holtec said "This marks the successful completion of loading activities of Holtec's first loading campaign at Krško We thank our partners at NEK for their support in project preparation and execution that led us to such a successful conclusion We also thank our loading team for their efforts to make this project such a success." The first HI-STORM cask was placed in the dry storage building in April marking the start of commissioning of the facility which was designed and constructed by Holtec under a contract awarded by NEK in February 2017 The first loading campaign had been expected to be completed by late this year Each HI-STORM FW cask holds 37 used fuel elements with a thick concrete shell providing full physical and radiological protection against extreme events such as weather a 696 MWe Westinghouse pressurised water reactor was the first western nuclear power plant to be built in eastern Europe Slovenia's Ministry of the Environment earlier this year approved the plant's continued operations for a further 20 years Country wants to speed up reactor project with decision in 2027 Building a second unit at the existing Krško nuclear power station would cost €11bn ($11.9bn) should Slovenia decide to go ahead with the largest of several possible units under consideration Golob told parliament that the price estimate corresponds to the price of the last nuclear power station to come online in Europe the 1,600 MW Olkiluoto-3 EPR supplied by France for Finland He said Slovenia is determined to speed up the development of a second nuclear power reactor at Krško with commercial operation planned by 2047 Golob told parliament that the costs and other details of the project would be known before the final decision was taken “Then a referendum will be held to seek the broadest possible national consensus for constructing this unit,” he added “The final decision by the timeline of [Krško owner] Gen Energija will be made in 2027” with a realistic completion date of 2047 Golob called for legislation aimed at streamlining the planning and construction process the unit would not be completed in time to meet anticipated demand Golob acknowledged that Slovenia cannot independently afford to build Krško-2 unless permitting and construction processes are speeded up He said investors from neighbouring countries have shown interest in participating in funding the project a task force will be established to draft legislative changes to help with project siting and a clear financial structure began commercial operation in 1983 with an original lifetime of 40 years The plant is co-owned in equal shares by the governments of Slovenia and neighbouring Croatia Slovenia has said about 16% of Croatia’s electrical energy consumption is covered by Krško The plant produces about 5.5 TWh of electricity a year Slovenian authorities gave a 20-year operating lifetime extension to Krško Hi-Storm FW casks are qualified to a severe earthquake level and the storage modules are engineered to withstand impact from a military or commercial aircraft exceeding the International Atomic Energy Agency guidance for operating nuclear power plants The custom-engineered domed lid of the Hi-Storm FW is a Holtec innovation developed to engineer an impact-capable design The 688 MWe Krško plant is Slovenia’s only commercial nuclear unit providing about 36% of the country’s electricity generation It is a Westinghouse pressurised water reactor and was the first western nuclear power plant in eastern Europe Construction started in 1975 and it began commercial operation in 1983 Slovenia approved Krško’s operation for a further 20 years until 2043 we will fulfil all the conditions and implement the decisions of the administrative bodies to extend the operation of the nuclear power plant and provide customers with electricity at a reasonable price for another two decades,” NEK said The environmental consent issued on Friday is for the extension of the operating life of the nuclear power plant to 2043 which was prompted by a lawsuit from non-governmental organisations in the country, looked at a wide number of areas including "improvements to ensure safety reduce the likelihood of environmental accidents resistance to climate change and external factors and the impact on water in the light of the warming trend of watercourses in the eastern part of Slovenia were examined. Since the NEK is located in an earthquake zone an important emphasis was also placed on the topic of earthquake safety" Minister of Infrastructure Bojan Kumer said: "The use of nuclear energy especially in light of the current energy crisis is an important topic for the future generations of our country." An international working group of around 30 countries - the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in Transboundary Context - drew up the instructions for conducting environmental impact assessments to extend the life of the plant and the Slovenian environment ministry said it "was the first in Europe to carry out this demanding process" with others "in progress but not completed" The ministry said that most of the discussion during the process was about: The final environmental approval ran to 300 pages with more than 50 experts having taken part in the process The application had been submitted to the ministry in October 2021 It supplies as much as 40% of Slovenia's electricity which was shut down in early October after the discovery of a leak in the primary circuit connection system is preparing to restart following repairs to the pipeline according to operator Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) The welding of the second new segment of the pipeline in the valve room in the containment has been completed The quality of the welds was confirmed by non-destructive methods the replacement of pipelines was completed and preparations for restarting the power plant began.” 121 fuel elements are being transferred from the used fuel pool back into the reactor vessel the heating of the systems will follow; their operation will be verified with an extensive surveillance testing programme We plan to synchronise the generator with the power grid in mid-November.” The Krško plant is co-owned by Croatia’s Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) and Slovenia’s GEN Energija located in Slovenia near the border with Croatia generates some 40% of Slovenia’s electricity output The 696 MWe Westinghouse pressurised water reactor which is some 100 kilometres from the Austrian border the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences said the earthquake hit at a depth of 10 km a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck central Croatia which is jointly owned by Croatia and Slovenia is a 696 MWe Westinghouse pressurised water reactor Construction started in 1975, the unit was connected to the grid in 1981 and it entered commercial operation in 1983 Its operational lifetime was designed to be 40 years but a 20-year extension was confirmed in mid-2015, subject to inspections in 2023 and 2033 Krško is owned and operated by Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) which is jointly owned by Croatia's Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group) and Slovenia's GEN Energija NEK produces and supplies electricity exclusively for the two partners The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it has been informed by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration that the Krško plant had "automatically shut down and is in a safe state" following the earthquake in Petrinja today at 11:19 UTC The national regulatory authority also informed the IAEA that there are no environmental impacts and that preventive inspections of systems and equipment at the nuclear power plant are ongoing The IAEA said it remains in contact with its counterparts in Slovenia All 121 fuel assemblies removed from reactor core "After systematic inspection and testing of systems and equipment which confirmed that Tuesday's earthquake did not affect the power plant the Krško Nuclear Power Plant was reconnected last night to the electricity system," NEK said we are gradually increasing the power of the plant which is expected to regain full capacity in the afternoon." this year it has "already produced more than 6 terawatt hours of electricity and supplied more electricity to our shareholders than planned" The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said yesterday it had been informed by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) that reactor start-up procedures had been initiated at the Krško plant and that the plant was scheduled to resume connection to the grid at 21:00 UTC last night SNSA informed the IAEA that Krško’s safety systems had operated as expected and that detailed inspections yesterday had shown no damage to the power plant’s systems and equipment by the earthquake The Slovenian government has issued an environmental approval to extend the operating life of the Krško nuclear power plant until 2043 0 The Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of Slovenia carried out the environmental impact assessment to extend the operating life of the Krško nuclear power plant (NEK) until 2043 The assessment team found no safety risks in extending the operating life of the power plant from 40 to 60 years The procedure lasted over two years and involved more than 50 experts from institutions in Slovenia and Croatia The assessment found no safety risks in extending the plant’s operating life from 40 to 60 years NEK has a capacity of 696 MW and covers 20% of electricity consumption in Slovenia and 14% in Croatia The plant is located in the eastern part of the country and is co-owned by Slovenian state energy company Gen Energija and Croatian power utility Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) Instructions for carrying out the environmental impact assessment were prepared by an international working group from as many as 30 countries The focus of the assessment was on safety improvements reduced probabilities of environmental accidents and earthquakes and resilience to the impact of climate change and other external factors All four neighboring countries took part in cross-border consultations participated in cross-border consultations By implementing the procedure and issuing the approval Slovenia acted in line with the Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context and the United Nations – UNECE guidelines said Slovenian Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Uroš Brežan Following an overhaul and technological upgrades, NEK now meets the criteria defined by the EU taxonomy for the long-term operation of nuclear power plants said that all procedures are in the final stage and that there is no need for physical technological upgrades The Krško NPP has a dry storage facility for used nuclear fuel the first campaign of transporting used fuel from the pool to a dry warehouse is also planned NEK will have met all the requirements and implemented all the decisions of the administrative bodies for extending the operating life The ministry conducted the environmental impact assessment following a lawsuit by NGOs in Slovenia The lawsuit sought the annulment of the Slovenian Environmental Agency’s (ARSA) decision that such an assessment was not necessary to extend the nuclear power plant’s operation The ministry carried out the environmental impact assessment following a lawsuit by NGOs A similar decision was made by the European Court of Justice when following Greenpeace’s lawsuit concerning the nuclear plants Duel 1 and Duel 2 in Belgium it considered such a case for the first time and ruled that an environmental impact assessment must be carried out Studies for these plants are ongoing but have not yet been completed making Slovenia’s study the first environmental impact assessment in Europe for extending the operation of a nuclear power plant Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob recently announced a referendum on the planned second block of NEK to be held once reactor technology has been chosen has said he supports the plant’s expansion PM has announced a referendum on the planned second block of the power plant after reactor technology is chosen Three environmental organizations have filed a lawsuit over the issued energy permits for the planned second block so the expansion of NEK is currently in dispute The construction of a second block would cost between EUR 5 billion and EUR 6 billion while its annual production would be 8,800 GWh The decision on a new block should be made within the next five years The dry storage building is 50 metres by 70 metres by 20 metres, with a reinforced concrete base of 1.75 metres and, plant operator Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško (NEK) explained, "including the perimeter walls, provides protection against flooding and enables the anchoring of storage containers", with equipment installed to allow monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Each HI-STORM FW cask will hold 37 used fuel elements, with a thick concrete shell providing full physical and radiological protection against extreme weather, earthquakes or an aircraft crashing, NEK said, adding that the containers have been designed to "enable the transport of the fuel elements in the future as part of a permanent solution". In the first fuel loading campaign, 16 HI-STORM FW casks holding a total 592 used fuel elements will be placed in the dry storage facility by late 2023. Holtec was awarded a contract by NEK in February 2017 that included the design and construction of a dry storage building, replacement of the fuel handling building crane trolley, and supply of equipment and services. Holtec noted that to ensure a large margin of structural safety, a seismically restrained version of the HI-STORM FW system was used for the Krško project. The seismic restraint system uses a robust steel structure embedded within the thick concrete foundation of the storage building. The HI-STORM FW casks are qualified to a severe earthquake level that produces foundation pad accelerations 2.1 times higher than the earth's gravity. "The custom-engineered domed lid of the HI-STORM FW, unique to this project, is a Holtec innovation developed to engineer an impact-capable design," it said. "Undoubtedly this project has been a pace-setter in terms of design and safety requirements, expanding the envelope of the types and severity of events normally considered for design of such a facility," said Holtec Senior Vice President of International Projects Rick Springman. "Our success is a testament to the teamwork and ingenuity of the trans-national project team that executed the project. "Commissioning of this facility was indispensable to support Krško's continued generation of 24/7 clean nuclear power, which is critical to Slovenia's clean energy aspirations". The 696 MWe Krško plant is a Westinghouse pressurised water reactor and was the first western nuclear power plant in eastern Europe. Construction started in 1975 and it was connected to the grid in 1981, entering commercial operation in 1983. In January, Slovenia's Ministry of the Environment approved Krško's operations for a further 20 years, until 2043, following the completion of an environmental impact assessment, a process which included input from neighbouring countries Croatia, Austria, Italy and Hungary, plus Germany. "With the introduction of dry storage, we will fulfill all the conditions and implement the decisions of the administrative bodies to extend the operation of the nuclear power plant and provide customers with electricity at a reasonable price for another two decades," NEK said. Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Mark Potter Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab , opens new tab Browse an unrivalled portfolio of real-time and historical market data and insights from worldwide sources and experts. , opens new tabScreen for heightened risk individual and entities globally to help uncover hidden risks in business relationships and human networks. © 2025 Reuters. All rights reserved Slovenia’s Nuclear Safety Administration confirmed in a statement that the Krško nuclear station is in a safe state with staff on site having carried out procedures considered “normal” under a shutdown event Inspections of all systems and equipment are now being conducted two-loop pressurised water reactor with a power output of 688 MW It began commercial operation in January 1983 Pipelines in the Krško nuclear plant were replaced as a precaution due to a leakage detected on the reducer section in early October 0 The Krško nuclear power plant was resynchronized with the electricity grid after it was preventively shut down on October 6 due to a leak Slovenia’s power system stability was put under an additional test with an outage of unit 6 in the Šoštanj coal-fired power plant last week because of a malfunction in the transportation of slag from the boiler Both facilities came back online on November 17 the nuclear and thermal power plant account for two thirds of the country’s domestic electricity output It should also be noted that Slovenia covers 30% of its power consumption from imports Krško was relaunched with a capacity utilization rate of 28% It is a joint venture of Slovenian government-controlled utility GEN energija and Croatia’s Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP Group) Krško has 696 MW in capacity. It is scheduled for an overhaul in April. Slovenia is planning to build another nuclear power plant. the hole was within the primary cooling circuit It was on a high-pressure safety injection system which is one of the emergency core cooling systems the original designer and equipment supplier Sections of pipelines on both sides of the reactor vessel were replaced until the check valves All 121 fuel elements were transferred to the spent fuel pool to enable the repair NEK said it is already contracting metallographic research and thermohydraulic and mechanical analyses to determine and analyze the cause of the failure It plans to complete the examinations within one year Krško nuclear power plant is located 100 kilometers east of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana 0 The Krško nuclear power plant is located 100 kilometers east of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana “The operating crew detected an increased leak in the primary system within the containment building The leak has no repercussions on employees or surrounding residents and the environment and it remains below the limits of the technical specifications,” NEK explained in the statement It added that the shutdown was needed to determine the exact source of the leak and measures to fix it [last night] the operating crew began a controlled gradual reduction of power and the plant was shut down in the morning hours Pfeifer: The shutdown is needed to determine both the source of the leak and rehabilitation measures which can be heard in the immediate vicinity so the residents in the vicinity of the power plant are asked for their understanding Gorazd Pfeifer said the shutdown was needed to determine both the source of the leak and rehabilitation measures He said earlier that the operating crew would start with a controlled gradual reduction of the facility’s capacity The Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration will conduct an inspection of the plant covers 20% of electricity consumption in Slovenia and 14% in Croatia The two countries jointly own the facility which is operated by government-controlled companies Gen Energija and Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP) In January 2023, the Slovenian government issued an environmental approval to extend the operating life of the Krško nuclear power plant until 2043 Slovenia is considering the construction of a new unit at NEK GEN Energija recently said it was considering the possibility for its new unit in its Krško nuclear power plant to be built with a larger capacity than initially planned Slovenia is speeding up the JEK2 nuclear project in Krško 0 he told lawmakers in the National Assembly that otherwise the new unit couldn’t be built before 2047 The government plans to conduct all the necessary procedures find potential investors and set up the financial structure by 2027 when it would make the final investment decision and hold a referendum Earlier he suggested that a plebiscite would be organized for any law concerning JEK2 Answering questions in parliament, the prime minister reiterated that national consensus is necessary for the installation of a new reactor state-owned utility GEN energija calculated that JEK2 could come online in 2037 in the most optimistic scenario He underscored that 2047 would be too late Total cost is estimated at EUR 7,000 per kW Slovenia intends to open the door for small modular reactors as well During the visit to Krško with the prime minister, Minister of Environment, Climate and Energy Bojan Kumer said nuclear energy would be included in the update of the National Energy and Climate Plan for the long term The technology won’t be limited to Krško GEN energija is examining the possibility to deploy small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) The company Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) is co-owned by GEN energija and Croatia’s government-controlled utility Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group). The facility has 696 MW in electricity capacity and almost 2 GW for thermal energy. Slovenia issued an environmental approval in January to extend the plant’s operating life until 2043. Croatia supports the JEK2 project while Austria is opposing it Nuclear power is making a comeback in Europe, with France leading the way Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the electrification trend increased concerns over energy security Optimism about the development of SMR technology contributed to the shift even though such reactors aren’t yet commercially available The dry storage building is 50 metres by 70 meters by 20 metres with a reinforced concrete base of 1.75m and, Krško nuclear power plant (NEK) explained, "including the perimeter walls provides protection against flooding and enables the anchoring of storage containers" with equipment installed to allow monitoring by the International Atomic Energy Agency "The introduction of dry storage of spent fuel is also a transition from active to passive solutions system or energy source is needed to provide cooling. It is considered the most appropriate and widespread temporary storage of spent fuel in the world," NEK said Each container will hold 37 used fuel cells with a thick concrete shell providing full physical and radiological protection against extreme weather adding that the containers have been designed to "enable the transport of the fuel elements in the future as part of a permanent solution" we will move 16 containers with 592 spent fuel cells to dry storage by autumn .. we will fulfil all the conditions and implement the decisions of the administrative bodies to extend the operation" of the nuclear power plant Slovenia's Ministry of the Environment in January approved Krško's operations for a further 20 years following the completion of an environmental impact assessment a process which included input from neighbouring countries Croatia A maintenance and refuelling outage is under way at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia are managed and supervised by NEK employees in cooperation with external contractors from Slovenia and Croatia and contractors of specific works in the nuclear industry from the international environment More than 2,100 people enter the plant every day and more than 1,500 people work there during peak hours A maintenance and refuelling outage is under way at the Krško Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia a 696MWe Westinghouse pressurised water reactor both of which were parts of the former Yugoslavia when Krško began operation in 1981 An inter-state agreement regulates the status and other legal relationships related to investment in the NPP as well as a Company Agreement between GEN energija and HEP (Croatian Elektroprivreda) It is organised as a limited liability company which have been in place since the last overhaul in 2021 will be moved to a pool in the fuel handling building This will be followed by filling the core for the next fuel cycle where 56 fuel elements will be replaced with fresh ones among them the replacement of the high-pressure turbine which is part of the secondary system of the power plant and is the last original component on the turbine-generator-exciter shaft One of the more prominent activities during this shift was the lifting and removal of the 60-ton rotor it performed 28 billion operations and contributed to the production of more than 200GWe The turbine replacement will increase Krsko's power output by 10-12MWe The overhaul is also preparing Krško for a periodic safety assessment planned for next year with the aim of extending its operating life for a further 10 years to 2033 NEK is also considering an additional 10 years of operation to 2043 An environmental impact assessment for this has already been submitted to the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning Krško is a Westinghouse pressurised water reactor located on the Sava River both of which were parts of the former Yugoslavia when Krško came online in 1981 It supplies as much as 40% of Slovenia's electricity and has operated reliably having three times completed uninterrupted runs of 500 days of power generation including immediately before this outage an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Emergency Preparedness Review (EPREV) team of experts concluded a five-day follow-up mission to review the emergency preparedness and response framework for nuclear and radiological emergencies in Slovenia The review was requested by the Slovenian Government and hosted by the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration (SNSA) and the Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief (ACPDR) The team observed a commitment at all levels to emergency preparedness and noted that Slovenia has made significant progress in developing and revising emergency arrangements since an initial EPREV mission in 2017 This full scope mission in 2017 found a sustained commitment to emergency preparedness and response (EPR) by all response organisations in Slovenia but highlighted the need to further strengthen coordination between all response organizations to ensure integrated planning Slovenia has a TRIGA research reactor and a Central Interim Storage for Radioactive Waste both located at the Podgorica Reactor Centreand uses ionising radiation for industrial former Director of Emergency Management at the Ontario Canada Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Management “We commend the responsiveness of Slovenia and tremendous amount of work done since the initial review particularly given that much of this progress was accomplished during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Nodwell said “Especially noteworthy is the development of the national protection strategy the amendments to the relevant national regulations and the draft National Emergency Plan Slovenia has also upgraded their training programme exercises and procedures for public communication.”   The EPREV team identified several strengths during the mission The team also made suggestions to further strengthen EPR arrangements “Among the activities undertaken to address the recommendations from the initial EPREV mission in 2017 the most important one was the endorsement of the national protection strategy for nuclear and radiological emergencies,” said Igor Sirc Director of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration “Efforts to implement the recommendations of the initial mission culminating in the EPREV follow-up mission this year have strengthened the emergency preparedness and response arrangements in Slovenia.” Image: Krško nuclear power plant (courtesy of NEK) Slovenia is planning to increase the power generation from nuclear energy and Croatia is also interested in joining the investment 1 Prime Minister Robert Golob visited the Krško nuclear power plant, which is in overhaul and said he agreed with the facility’s management that now is the opportunity for the nuclear option to secure its position for the future He added it would be difficult for Europe to overcome the current issues in the energy sector without utilizing all technologies Renewable energy sources are the first priority but now is an opportunity for nuclear technology to reaffirm itself and offer solutions for Europe’s future want energy sources that cannot be used to blackmail them ones they control technologically and with stable fuel sources Golob pointed out that the authorities in Slovenia are awaiting a concrete solution from experts as soon as possible for the construction of the nuclear power plant with Western technology The government expects experts to offer a concrete solution for the new nuclear plant the government will seek a national consensus for such an investment According to him, a referendum will have to be held within five years on whether to build another nuclear power plant. Of note, it is not the first time that a plebiscite idea has been floated Golob: Right now the decision seems simple The state will ask power utility GEN Energija to speed up planning for the second unit in order to create a situation where citizens can decide whether they want it or not said that Krško would be ready for another 20 years of operation after the overhaul Poland has just announced it would build three nuclear power plants It expects the construction of the first one to begin in 2026 Only that the decision is not made too late The second unit in the Krško nuclear power plant could be in operation in 2035 0 The second nuclear reactor at the Krško power plant in Slovenia could be built and put into operation in 2035 if all procedures and the construction run on schedule chief operating officer at state-owned energy company GEN energija Although there is still no final decision on whether Krško 2 unit will be built Gen energija stressed that it is determined to manage the process so that things are ready to go ahead once the decision is known Given that Slovenia plans to abolish coal by 2033, about 60% of electricity demand will depend on imports unless new production capacities are established, Levičar told ePosavje TV GEN energija also pointed out that it would do everything in its power this year to speed up the preparations for the Krško 2 project implementation Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob recently announced that a referendum on the construction of the second nuclear power plant unit to be held once the technology is selected It should be organized in 2027 at the latest Last week the government issued environmental approval for the extension of the service life of the first reactor at the Krško NPP until 2043 when GEN energija submitted a request to amend the national spatial plan the activities were slow and the estimated date for completion was pushed back from 2033 to 2035 Levičar: The next milestone will be a contract with the supplier of the reactor The next milestone will be a contract with the supplier of the reactor and it should be signed by 2027 He explained that according to experiences from other places the preparation for the future plant’s large components takes about three years The construction could take another five years and the probationary period could begin in 2035 GEN is also examining the possibility to deploy small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) but the technology is still in development and not commercially available The Ministry of Infrastructure issued an energy permit for Krško 2 in July 2021, but environmental organizations filed a lawsuit against it According to previous announcements the construction of the second unit would cost between EUR 5 billion and EUR 6 billion It is envisaged with 1.1 GW in capacity and 8.8 TWh in annual electricity production The reactor’s projected lifespan is 60 years The Krško NPP is located near the border with Croatia, which supports the construction of the second unit The company Krško Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) is co-owned by Gen energija and Croatia’s government-controlled utility Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP) nuclear power accounted for 43.4% of Slovenia’s electricity production Visitors enter “Tree From Within,” an art installation along the Farm/Art DTour route south of Hillpoint on Oct artist Peter Krsko invited visitors to enter a remarkably symmetrical spherical space carved inside a tangle of branches was inspired to create this sculpture after visiting the greenhouses in Birge Hall While Peter Krsko’s tenure as this semester's UW Arts Institute's Artist in Residence had been planned for a while the sculpture project was a spur-of-the-moment creation Krsko’s work is inspired by nature and the environment and he makes abstract sculptures that grow in harmony with their surroundings DTour Artist Peter Krsko and his assistant Alicia from Washington created "Sylvan Chapel," Stop #8 on the Farm/Art DTour and he creates abstract sculptures that grow in harmony with their surroundings As students shuffled back and forth between classes in Birge Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus these past few weeks they looked curiously at what Peter Krsko was up to the Slovakian-born artist was building a plywood sculpture around one of the pillars in the entrance hall Inspired by the plants he saw in the greenhouses at Birge Hall Krsko constructed the sculpture of slender pieces of wood to climb 22 feet up the pillar like a vine While Krsko’s tenure as this semester's UW Arts Institute's Artist in Residence had been planned for a while He first started coming to Wisconsin to create pieces for the Farm/Art DTour public art tour in Reedsburg and liked the area so much he eventually moved here a metal sculpture inspired by the movement of bubbles that will be installed in the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery He’s also teaching a class of students from a wide range of arts and science majors to build their own sculptures which will be unveiled in a show at Olbrich Gardens in May “I’m not against museums or galleries,” Krsko said Krsko talked with the Cap Times about the inspiration for his work why art is a valuable way to approach science and why he moved from Slovakia to Washington The people and the whole landscape of the Driftless region And you think about how it was all created thousands of years ago by all these lakes and waters The people are really beautiful and nice here There is something about the Driftless area where people are very conscientious about where they live I come from a family that spends a lot of time in the forest and doing woodworking And then I was lucky enough to get in touch with the great folks at the UW to create this multidisciplinary residency Do you build sculptures like this organically I get very inspired by the organic patterns I came up with this shape after I got a tour of the greenhouses downstairs a graduate student in the botany department “Do you want to see the greenhouses we have in the building?” He showed me all these interesting plants that were from all around the globe I was looking at these shapes and how it was all put together and we were talking about you building a piece in the lobby.” I was like I’ll just bring it from the greenhouse and put it in the lobby.” I don’t like to really title or tell people what it is It’s much more interesting for me asking what they see It makes the conversation more interesting It’s really just an abstract fantasy organism How did you get into combining art and science I was very interested in nature and how nature works I wanted to answer all these questions in my head the less I know and the more questions I have If they don’t learn anything else from my course except to keep their eyes open and be curious all the time We’re studying everything from tiny little things that are invisible to the bare eye and we have to use microscopes — bacteria even stuff you might find repulsive like mucus in the context of hydrogels and biomedical technology The first part of the semester we focus on the forms and shapes and the different ways that things in nature are packed and assembled And then slowly we’re moving into looking at dynamic systems The flow of energy and matter through nature and through bodies and study societies of organisms like bees and ants and termites and how we can learn from them the students are encouraged to work on their personal pieces The preview will be presented in Reedsburg in April and then the final show of the students’ work and some of my pieces will be in Olbrich Gardens on May 5 What set you on the path of making these art installations I got a post-doc fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda (Maryland) I was in the biophysics lab that specializes in developing either instrumentations for biomedical applications or looking at nature from a physicist’s point of view I was exposed to these old-school scientists who really believed in the value of science being done in government labs and there was always all this talk about education and transparency and how the general public should know what’s going on in these labs because there’s a lot of interesting stuff happening I became involved in outreach more and more creating lessons plans and doing workshops with kids who didn’t necessarily have access to that level of science me and my friends were doing a lot of artwork in public spaces — huge murals It would turn into this tremendous party where we would bring people together from all over the world It’s taking the knowledge from science and using art as a very easy and friendly way to present it to everybody What is it about art that makes it a useful way for looking at scientific principles The functions that I’m utilizing is that we can create attractive or interesting things you cannot stop looking at or listening to it you’re getting some kind of information from it I can use the same kind of concept and trick people into learning something "Today we’re going to learn physics and chemistry," how many are going to say “Yeah “We’re going to build a couple of sculptures or paint a mural or compose songs,” they’ll be excited You just put concepts into the process while you’re making things and make them think about laws of physics or advanced mathematics They don’t even realize they went through the process It seems like bringing people together and working as a group or community is a big part of what you do I like to spend time with the students and we discuss nature I feel like humans are getting away from nature a little bit We’ve got to start coming back to nature and realize that we are part of nature I really like the students that I have in the class They’re really smart and they come from diverse backgrounds and majors The stuff that we’re doing is very interdisciplinary The concept of being interdisciplinary also makes it very interesting and I think it allows us to come up with more innovative approaches to making art It’s important that there are experts in different fields of science but it’s also important to combine these fields together and look at nature from all different angles Become a Cap Times member today and enjoy great benefits Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device Ljubljana considering two new pressurised water reactors NEK warns local residents that noise could occasionally occur when steam is released from the secondary the Krško plant was automatically shut down after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale hit central Croatia about 100 km southeast of the plant site in Slovenia Both operator and national nuclear regulator said at the time the nuclear plant was in a safe sate of shutdown is Slovenia's only nuclear power plant and generates about one-third of its electricity and a 20-year extension to its initial 40-year operational lifetime was confirmed in mid-2015 NEK plans to extend Krško's operations until 2043 A SALTO peer review is a comprehensive safety review addressing strategy and key elements for the safe long-term operation (LTO) of nuclear power plants LTO of nuclear power plants is defined as operation beyond an established time frame determined by the licence term SALTO missions complement IAEA Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) missions which are designed as a review of programmes and activities essential to operational safety SALTO peer reviews can be carried out at any time during the lifetime of a nuclear power plant although according to the IAEA the most suitable time lies within the last 10 years of the plant's originally foreseen operating period SALTO and OSART reviews are carried out at the request of the IAEA member country in which the review is to take place a ten-person team - comprising experts from Belgium the UK and three IAEA staff members - reviewed the Krško plant's preparedness The team identified good practices and good performances that will be shared with the nuclear industry globally These included: the plant has a well-structured and comprehensive programme of proactive and reactive activities for the ageing management of the safety related cables; the plant has set up an efficient intranet portal which offers all staff access to relevant management applications data and records; and the plant's Steam Generator Ageing Management Programme demonstrates a strong commitment to excellence and several activities under this programme exceed international safety standards The team also provided recommendations to further enhance the preparations for LTO safety including: the plant should ensure detailed planning for the management of the third periodic safety review to begin in 2022 in support of LTO preparation; the plant should complete the ageing management reviews of structures systems and components; and the plant should implement effective knowledge management in support of LTO "We observed that the operator is implementing preparations for safe LTO in a timely manner," said team leader and IAEA Nuclear Safety Officer Martin Marchena "A number of ageing management and LTO activities already meet IAEA safety standards The SALTO team encourages the plant to address the review findings and progress with the implementation of all remaining activities for safe LTO." said: "We appreciate the IAEA's support to our plant in ageing management and preparation for safe LTO The results of this mission will help us to improve our activities for safe LTO and to further align them with IAEA safety standards." the country's nuclear regulatory authority SNSA and the Slovenian government within three months.