Stability in 3 years forecast for Czech nuclear plant

Nov 13, 2006, 15:54 GMT

Prague - The head of a problem-plagued nuclear power plant that has strained Czech-Austrian relations promised Monday to stabilize the facility by 2009.

'My commission is to stabilize the operation... in three years,' Temelin plant director Vladimir Hlavinka told the Hospodarske noviny newspaper. 'I want Temelin to be, in the public's view, a boring power plant.'

Hlavinka's comments came less than a week after the Austrian government sent a protest letter to Prague after the Czech Authority for Nuclear Safety (SUJB) granted an operating permit for the Soviet- designed plant, located 60 kilometres from the Czech-Austrian border.

The letter was written after Austria's farm and environment minister, Josef Proell, visited Prague and criticized Czech officials for failing to 'clarify' safety issues at the plant.

Currently, technicians are wrestling with problems tied to deformed and leaking fuel rods in one of the plant's two reactors.

The fuel problem has prevented Temelin's second unit from operating since August, although technicians are preparing to restart the reactor soon. Pre-start testing began Friday and should take another week.

Technical problems also forced the shutdown of the first unit last week. It restarted over the weekend.

Similar problems have dogged the plant since it opened in 2000, despite protests from environmentalists and Austrian political leaders.

Czech officials insist that none of the glitches in the state- owned plant are serious and that public safety is not at risk.

Hlavinka, who was named director in July, said his goal is to operate the plant for 280 days without interruption.