Slovenia mulls special law to speed up new nuclear project

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Slovenia mulls special law to speed up new nuclear project

Date: June 19^th 2023

Author: Tanja Srnovršnik

Category: En.vision

Topic: Electricity , Energy policy , Nuclear Energy

Slovenia may adopt a special law to speed up the siting of a second nuclear reactor at the Krsko nuclear power plant, the country’s prime minister Robert Golob said on Friday.

Golob noted during a debate on Slovenia’s nuclear future that based on current legislation, it would take until 2047 for the new nuclear unit to be built and so the country would probably need to adopt special legislation as it had done to accelerate solar and wind projects.

The prime minister also announced that he would appoint a state secretary to coordinate the work of various stakeholders concerning all necessary legislative proposals and to ensure that the new nuclear project is fast-tracked. This role will be given to Danijel Levicar, who has already been working on the project as the COO of the utility Gen Energija.

According to Levicar, it will take about five years to finish the siting phase due to the complexity of the project. Golob has mentioned 2037 as an “optimistic” timeline for the completion of the new reactor’s construction phase.

Aiming higher

However, the siting of the new nuclear unit also requires that Gen Energija first supplements its application, allowing for the preparation of a new national spatial plan that could increase the project’s capacity to 1.6 GW, its CEO Dejan Paravan said.

As he explained, the geopolitical situation had changed significantly since 2021, when Gen Energija received an energy permit to build a new 1.1 GW nuclear reactor at Krsko. Sticking to this capacity type would mean that the utility would be left with only one equipment supplier, as Russian and Chinese companies are “no longer suitable for further serious conversations,” said Paravan.

“By increasing the capacity, we want to expand the range of potential suppliers,” said Paravan. He further noted that this would also give the utility better opportunities to reach a strategic partnership for the project as it would not be able to finance it on its own.

Meanwhile, a group of Slovenian private businesses has presented an initiative for a private co-investment in the new nuclear project. The goal is to get access to electricity at stable prices, said businessman Igor Akrapovic.