Ljubljana:
Slovenia’s Krsko nuclear energy plant has been shut down as a precaution soon after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake was registered in neighbouring Croatia, the plant’s spokeswoman stated Tuesday.
“I can confirm the preventive shutdown,” spokeswoman Ida Novak Jerele told AFP, but could not give any additional information.
The earthquake was felt in a number of neighbouring nations, which includes Slovenia and as far away as the Austrian capital Vienna.
Krsko is Slovenia’s sole nuclear energy plant and lies about one hundred kilometres (60 miles) east of the capital Ljubljana.
The existing 700-megawatt Westinghouse reactor was constructed in the former Yugoslavia and went into service in 1983.
It is co-owned by Slovenia and Croatia.
The plant offers for about 20 % of Slovenia’s electrical energy wants and 15 % of Croatia’s but environmental campaigners have previously named for it to be shut down simply because of its age and the dangers of seismic activity in the area.
It was initially due to be switched off in 2023, but Ljubljana and Zagreb decided in 2015 to extend its lifetime by a further 20 years.
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