JEK2 begins: a referendum at the end of 2027.

The Slovenian government has officially decided to draft the National Spatial Plan for the second block of the Krško nuclear power plant (JEK2). Prime Minister Robert Golob said that the country will no longer revert to improvisations, but that citizens in the postponed referendum will have a clear picture of the technology, location and, most importantly – the final price of the project. The repeated referendum is expected by the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028.

Pouke iz 2024: bez informacija nema odluke

After the referendum planned for November 2024 was canceled due to political disagreements and criticisms that the public did not have enough information about the project itself, Golob now emphasizes that the new process is set on significantly healthier grounds. The referendum is expected by the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028. But before the referendum itself, four key pieces of information will be known: the exact location, construction conditions, who is the chosen supplier (Vestinghaus and EDF are in the game), and finally what is the final price of the project.

Prime Minister Golob, following the report of the Ministry of Finance, issued a key warning affecting the entire region: even half of the price of electricity from the nuclear plant depends solely on financing costs. Given that nuclear projects are capital-intensive with long payback periods, the financing model will be crucial for the economic success of the project and the competitiveness of Slovenia's heavy industry.

The estimated value of the investment, according to GEN energije studies, ranges from 9.3 billion euros for a block of around 1,000 megawatts (Vestinghaus AP1000 reactor) to over 15 billion euros for 1,650-megawatt EPR units.

JEK2 in numbers:

• Capacity: Up to 2.400 MW (one or two units: one EPR unit of 1650 megawatts or two Vestinghaus units of about 1000 megawatts each).
• Technology: AP1000 (USA) or EPR/EPR1200 (France).
• Final investment decision: planned for 2029.
• Start of construction: 2033.
• Commercial operation: 2041.

Comment

No, here is also a message for Serbia: Slovenia is already seriously discussing details of its future nuclear project – timelines, price, partners, project details (for example, two years ago in Slovenia there was a serious and extremely lively public discussion about the seismic characteristics report of the site. As a consequence of public insistence, several additional reports were prepared). But all of this is possible solely because the public is actively involved in the project, unlike Serbia, despite various problems that were visible when the previous referendum, which was to be held more than a year ago, was canceled.

We also add that this shows open public debate makes the entire project significantly more resilient – the JEK2 project has publicly withstood sharp criticism and even very rapid and surprising (in many ways even scandalous) cancellation of the referendum, which would represent a serious blow to any infrastructure project that few such projects would survive.