Nuclear power in Europe

Ljubljana. The state-managed energy company GEN Energy in Slovenia, which owns half of Krsko NPP, has filed an application with the Economy Ministry in Ljubljana for a permit to build a second unit in the nuclear power plant, Serbian Politika daily writes.
The other part of the power plant in Krsko is owned by Croatia. The country will not participate in the construction of the second unit, which will be situated on the Sava river, some 30 km away from Zagreb. (more…)

Croatia’s Ministry of Economy has denied reports which the country would join with Albania to construct a nuclear power plant, media sources reported. According to media sources, a contract on the deal would be signed by the end of April 2009. Mazal said that at the end of March 2009, Deputy Croatian Prime Minister Damir Polancec was on an official visit to Albania when possible cooperation on constructing a nuclear plant in the country was discussed. (more…)

PODGORICA — Croatia officials have confirmed that an agreement has been signed with Albania for the construction of a joint nuclear facility near the Montenegrin border.

Croatian Economy Ministry spokesman Tomislav Mazal told Podgorica television station Vijesti that the two governments had formed a working group of five experts each tasked with the technical implementation of this major project. (more…)

Zagreb _ Croatian environmentalists are calling on the government to rethink its energy strategy as the government pushes on with plans to build the country’s first nuclear plant.

“After assessing our natural resources we decided to go for sustainable development with pillars in environmentally responsible agriculture, viticulture and responsible tourism. Nuclear energy can jeopardise it all,” said Jovan Jelic, the head of Croatia’s municipality of Erdut as he announced the start of a national anti-nuclear campaign. (more…)

Vienna – Croatia must “lift the taboo” on nuclear power and have a broad debate on its energy future, Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said Saturday. Sanader’s remarks to Austrian national radio came just days after a coolant leak focused attention on Slovenia’s Krsko nuclear reactor, located near the Croatian border and jointly owned by both countries.

“I believe we will have to debate energy policy very shortly in Austria as well as in Croatia,” Sanader said. “As part of that, we simply have to lift the taboo on nuclear power.” (more…)

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Zagreb media have slammed the Croatian government because Croatia was the last to learn about what was going on at the Krsko nuclear power plant which is located in Slovenia, as well as what kind of malfunction it was.

Despite the fact that a quarter of Croatian citizens live in and around Zagreb, the Croatian Electrical Company (HEP) held back information that there had been a malfunction at the plant for more than three hours, The Earth Times reported. (more…)

LJUBLJANA, June 4 (Reuters) – Slovenia’s only nuclear power plant was shut down on Wednesday because of a water leak but there was no impact on the environment and the situation was “fully under control”, Slovenian and EU officials said.

“The plant was shut down and the leakage was located already. Now the plant will have to cool down for a day or so before the leakage can be repaired,” Andrej Stritar, head of the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration, told Reuters. (more…)

22 May 2008 Zagreb – Croatia’s plans to construct a €2 billion thousand-megawatt nuclear plant will only increase the country’s foreign debt, a daily warns.

Croatia is a debt-ridden country and taking out new loans for a nuclear power plant could bring more trouble, warns Zagreb daily Vecernji list. (more…)

ZAGREB, CROATIA – If Croatia was to take over its share of waste from the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant now, it would have to find a location to store 1,150 cubic metres of dangerous nuclear waste, that is, half of the waste from the power plant that is shared by Slovene’s GEN Energija and Croatia’s Hrvatska Elektroprivreda companies. (more…)

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

[Announcer] If Slovenia had bought Croatia’s stake in the Krsko nuclear power plant in time, today we would not have problems with electricity. What’s more, we could even export it and thereby make a nice profit. But instead, we might have to solve a future energy crisis, which actually only just began announcing itself, by building an additional nuclear power block in Krsko. Irena Majce reporting. (more…)