Slovenia, Croatia extend atomic plant's lifespan by 20 years

Slovenia and Croatia agreed on Monday to extend the lifespan of a jointly-owned nuclear plant until 2043, overriding calls from green groups to close the facility.

"We decided to extend Krsko nuclear plant's lifespan because it has good operational security, economic and investment results," Slovenia's infrastructure minister Peter Gaspersic said after meeting his Croatian counterpart Ivan Vrdoljak in Krsko, Slovenian state radio reported.

The two ministers headed Monday's meeting of the inter-governmental commission supervising the work of the nuclear plant built in 1983 by the two states while they were part of former Yugoslavia.

The plant, situated in Slovenia some 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of the capital Ljubljana and within 50 kilometres of Croatia's capital Zagreb, was initially scheduled to close in 2023.

In 2008, a coolant leak at the reactor triggered a European-wide early warning system. The incident had no environmental repercussions.

Environmental watchdog Greenpeace, in its 2012 Nuclear Stress Test report, called for the plant to be phased out due to its age and danger that a large earthquake could represent for the reactor core.