January 17, 2022

Slovenia will close its coal-fired power plants in 2033, the government concluded. New nuclear construction, which will enable this, is planned at the Krško factory before 2030.

The artist’s impression of a larger new unit proposed for Krško next to the existing plant (Image: GEN Group)

The Government of Slovenia has adopted a national strategy for “coal mining”. In addition to coal mining and incineration, it has defined a “comprehensive social and economic restructuring process” for its coal regions of Zasavje and Savinjsko-Šaleško. The regions will have access to a “fair transition fund” of € 248 million ($ 281 million) by 2027.

Today, coal represents 30% of Slovenian electricity, and nuclear energy from the Krško single nuclear power plant about 36%. The reactor was put into operation in 1981 and its operator NEK plans to continue until 2043, assuming a successful long-term operation.

Krško, built before the break-up of Yugoslavia, has since been managed by the Krško NPP on behalf of its owners, the Slovenian GEN Group and the Croatian Croatian Electric Power Company. The GEN Group is taking a leading role in its management and intends to supplement Krško with a new, large reactor before 2030. Last year, the company received an “energy permit”, which enables the continuation of site studies.

On January 6, when the GEN Group presented its plans for the year, the company’s managing director Danijel Levičar said that the new reactor in Krško “is not just a strategic development project of the GEN Group, but an intergenerational project of the entire Slovenian society.”

The GEN Group proposes decarbonisation of all Slovenian electricity by 2035 with the construction of a new reactor with an estimated capacity of 1,100 MWe, the completion of the Mokrica hydroelectric power plant and the addition of 1,000 MWe of solar collectors.

Researched and wrote World Nuclear News