The Zelena Akcija ("Green Action") environmentalist group said on Tuesday that it is opposed to approving the extension of the operational life span of the Krsko nuclear power plant from 40 to 60 years, citing a lacking environmental feasibility study.

The association says in a press release that it was only after pressure from civil society organisations in Slovenia and Austria that a Slovenian court ruled that an environmental impact study on extending Krsko’s operational life span beyond 2023 and cross-border counselling were mandatory.

The Krsko nuclear power plant, located in Slovenia near the border with Croatia, is owned by the two countries.

Luka Tomac of the Green Action warned that Krsko is the only nuclear power plant in Europe operating in a seismically active area and that this fact has not been addressed properly in the study.

The NGO therefore considers that a new international earthquake risk study should be carried out and included in the environmental impact assessment and that the necessary technical improvements should be made.

Apart from the problems related to the storage of low-level radioactive waste on Trgovska Gora, perhaps an even more dangerous problem is the unresolved final storage of high-level radioactive waste, the NGO says.

Regarding alternatives to the proposed extension of the plant’s life span, the Green Action says that all analyses of available potential and equitable transition scenarios in Croatia and Slovenia show that the potential of domestic renewable energy sources could be sufficient to compensate for the early cessation of coal and nuclear energy use in both countries.

“That is the only option that guarantees long-term energy independence,” Tomac concluded, urging citizens to get involved in public consultation on the matter to last until 10 June.