Nuclear Situation in Slovenia

From Nuclear Heritage
Revision as of 10:55, 6 August 2009 by Falk (talk | contribs) (updated)
Jump to navigationJump to search

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

In Slovenia several nuclear facilities exist: a Nuclear Power Plant in Krško, a former Uranium mine in Žirovski vrh near Škofja Loka, and the nuclear research institute "Jožef Stefan" with its "TRIGA" research reactor[1] in Ljubljana.[2]


Uranium Mining

Žirovski vrh is the site where the tailings from the nearby uranium mine were deposited in the past. The mine was permanently closed in the 1990's and the site is now being sanctioned by the company in charge of the closure of the mine, Rudnik Žirovski Vrh, based in Todraž.[3][4]

Jožef Stefan Institute

"Our research in the domain of reactor physics is directed mostly towards development of new methods for research and power reactor calculations. We work on neutron, photon and electron Monte Carlo transport, nuclear data evaluation, advanced nodal methods, pin cell and fuel element homogenisation and on methods aimed at precise power distribution reconstruction. Several program packages for reactor calculations both for our TRIGA research reactor and Krško nuclear power plant were developed at our department. Since the initial startup of the Krško nuclear power plant we are preparing – in parallel with fuel vendor – entire core design report and also performing physics startup tests using our own – now widespread – rod insertion method. We also study advanced fourth generation reactors, advanced neutron sources and data and materials for fusion technology." self-portrait of the "Jožef Stefan Institute"[5]

NPP Krško

Krško is the only Nuclear Power Plant in Slovenia. It is a Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) technology Light Water Reactor (LWR) with a capacity of 696 MW. Operator is the Slovene Croatian company Nuklearna Elekrarna Krško" (NEK). The governments of Slovenia and Crotia made an agreement about the ownership, decommissioning, costs etc. of this plant on March 11th, 2003. 50% of the Krško NPP are owned by the Slovene electricity company GEN-Energija, 50% are owned by the Croatian electricity company HEP Electric. Responsible for the supervision of the nuclear safety is the Slovene administration.[6]

Krško started operation in 1983. It is planned to be decommissioned in 2023, but the nuclear companies and politicians already discuss to extend the NPP's lifetime. The fuel for the NPP is supplied by the German NUKEM company. It's origing from Russia the engineer director of Krško said. The Uranium is shipped for enrichment to the Columbia plant in the USA. At the end of the procedure the fuel elements are transported to Slovenia.[6]

At the present time the Ministry of Economy discusses the construction of an additional reactor with a capacity of 1,000 to 1,600 MW in Krško. The estimated costs will be some 1.5 Billion EUR says the pro-nuclear lobby. Critics say that it is more likely that the construction costs will reach some 5 Billion EUR. In 2013 the construction is expected to begin, the operation of the nuclear unit should start in 2017.[2]

Electricity in Slovenia

  • 38 % nuclear power
  • 8.9 % imported electricity
  • 30.7 % coal power
  • 22.3 % water power
  • 0.0 % natural gas power (0.01 TWh)


Overview of the Nuclear History in ex-Yugoslavia

In the former Yugoslavia three nuclear research institutes had been founded during the communist time: Institute "Ruđer Bošković"[7] (Croatia), Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences[8] (Serbia), and "Jožef Stefan" Institute[9] (Slovenia). In one of these institutes long time ago a big accident happened causing some 10 dead people, which was one of the biggest accidents in such a facility. Beginning in the 1960th the nuclear policy of the Yugoslav countries started with research for Uranium mining. The public awareness for the ecological challenges of nuclear power grew. In the past the media were not allowed to report about the accidents that happened in Yugoslavia. Instead, an artistic documentary film was produced, that was awarded international film prices. The secret service tried to prevent the presentation of this film, but failed because of the international and political prominence of the maker of the film.[2]

Public Opinion About Nuclear Power

All Slovene parties apart from the Green party are pro-nuclear at the moment (August 2009). The general public believe is that Slovenia would be about to hit troubled waters without the NPP Krško. The parties and most politicians discuss neither alternative energy concepts nor energy reduction measures. Safety problems of nuclear facilities do not exist in the public awareness. Although at least the Slovene Green party/ies oppose nuclear power, media insist that in Slovenia nobody would be against nuclear energy.[2]

Anti-nuclear Activities

The NGO Focus is besides Greenpeace the only Slovene NGO to oppose against nuclear power in Slovenia.[2]

Currently a referendum is being prepared (by the government) for 2010. It seems that by this a new reactor unit in Krško should receive something like a public legitimation. Currently the public opinion is not against this new NPP: some 55-60% of the people seem to be for this new nuclear power station at the moment (which was in August 2009).[2]


  1. http://www.rcp.ijs.si/ric/index-a.htm, August 5, 2009
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Presentation at the transnational Green Party Meeting in Ljubljana on August 4th, 2009
  3. Žirovski Vrh Mine, public company for the closure of the mine, site (Slovene): http://www.rudnik-zv.si/index.htm
  4. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Todra%C5%BE&oldid=259699373, August 5, 2009
  5. http://www.ijs.si/ijsw/Reactor_Physics_F8, August 5, 2009
  6. 6.0 6.1 Presentation of the Krško NPP engineer director on August 4th, 2009 in connection with an excursion to the NPP
  7. http://www.irb.hr/en/, August 5, 2009
  8. http://www.vin.bg.ac.rs/, August 5, 2009
  9. http://www.ijs.si/ijsw/JSI, August 5, 2009