The proposed new nuclear energy plant for Slovenia could have a power of 2400 MW and there are three technology providers being considered, GEN Energy CEO Dejan Paravan has said.

How JEK2 could look, alongside the existing Krško plant (Image: GEN/JEK2)

Paravan gave the update on the project while speaking at the Energetika 2023 conference.

According to GEN Energy he noted that the company had this year changed the design of the project "so we could build a larger block with a power of up to 2400 MW, or two blocks". This would expand the range of potential suppliers, improving the negotiating power and provide greater co-investment opportunities, he said. It would also increase energy security.

The company reported him as saying "we will treat all three possible technology suppliers for JEK2 - the American Westinghouse, the French EDF and the Korean KHNP - equally" and added that they all have strengths and weaknesses and "the decision will not be easy".

A new working group of Slovenian government ministers and industry officials has been established and met last month with the aim of speeding up the implementation of the JEK2 project and preparing "all the necessary bases for citizens to make high-quality and informed decisions about" it in a referendum which the government says is needed for the project to happen.

The planned timeline is for a final investment decision by 2028, with the aim of new capacity coming online in the 2030s.

Krško, a 696 MWe pressurised water reactor, is Slovenia's only nuclear power plant and generates about one-third of its electricity. The plant, which is co-owned by neighbouring Croatia, began commercial operation in 1981, and a 20-year extension to its initial 40-year operational lifetime was confirmed in mid-2015. Krško is owned and operated by Nuklearna Elektrarna Krško, which is jointly owned by Croatia's Hrvatska elektroprivreda (HEP Group) and Slovenia's GEN Energija.

Researched and written by World Nuclear News