The public disclosure of the documents for the spatial plan is expected in the second half of 2027, the government said in a press release after it adopted a decision to start drafting the plan that would determine the site of the second nuclear reactor of the power plant.
The decision follows a public discussion about the project initiated by the energy ministry that took place from July to October last year, and included the municipality of Krsko, businesses, non-governmental organisations, and residents.
On Monday, the Krsko municipal council gave its consent to continue the planning process, public broadcaster RTV Slovenija reported. However, the municipality and the spatial planning ministry have not agreed on the future location of the plant and the municipality also has found a planned cooling tower unacceptable in terms of both space and size.
Bruno Glaser, CEO of state-owned electricity company Gen Energija, said that there is still a long way to go before the final adoption of the national spatial plan for the project, "and in the meantime there are still many safeguards for the municipality", RTV Slovenija added.
Last summer, the ministry of natural resources and spatial planning launched an initiative to prepare the national spatial plan for the construction of the second reactor at the Krsko nuclear power plant, with estimated costs of up to 15.4 billion euro ($18.2 billion). A second reactor would produce 8,000 to 13,200 GWh of electricity per year. The government said back then it expects to make a final decision on building the second reactor in 2028.
The Krsko plant, constructed in 1983 near Slovenia's border with Croatia, has a single pressurized water reactor with a gross electrical output of 730 MW, enabling the production of approximately 5,700 GWh of electricity per year. The reactor is expected to stop operation in 2043.
The operating company Nuklearna Elektrarna Krsko (NEK) is co-owned by Gen Energija and Croatian power utility Hrvatska Elektroprivreda (HEP).
(SeeNews, February 17, 2026)