Austria angered at approval for continued operation of Dukovany nuclear reactor

The Czech nuclear safety watchdog has cleared the continued operation of the country’s oldest nuclear reactor. That decision quickly brought a reaction from neighbouring anti-nuclear Austria with a demand that the European Commission become involved in whether that decision should be reviewed and confirmed.

Dukovany nuclear power plant|Photo: Jiří Sedláček, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED

The first unit of the Dukovany nuclear power plant started operation in 1985 and was heralded as a great technological leap forward for the then Communist Czechoslovakia. Thirty years on, the country’s oldest reactor was due for a crunch decision from the State Office for Nuclear Safety on whether it continue operation.

A decision due at the end of 2015 was already postponed for three months because power plant operator ČEZ had not got the required paperwork and documentation together. Indeed, the last year has been a fraught one for Dukovany after it was found that flawed safety checks on the welds of piping were carried out by a sub-contractor. Three out of the four units at the plant were closed, costing ČEZ billions of crowns, as emergency checks were undertaken.

And on Thursday approval was given by the national nuclear watchdog for continued operation of the unit. A further 10 year operational permit had been expected but instead of that a permit with no time limit was set.

Dalibor Stráský, photo: Czech Television

Dalibor Stráský is an advisor on nuclear issues to the Upper Austrian region, and a former advisor at the Czech Ministry of Environment. He told Czech Television that key aspects of the watchdog’s decision were not expected.

“What is perhaps surprising about this is the fact that the permit is for an unlimited period. Until now these units, as is usual in the rest of the world, were given 10 year approvals but now it is for an undetermined period. On the other hand, the conditions that the approval is based on are, in my opinion, quite strict and it’s now up to the operator and the state regulator for nuclear safety to make sure and required that they are fulfilled.”

The Austrian Minister of Environment Andrä Rupprechter has reportedly called for the European Commission to be involved in judging whether the decision to keep operating the Dukovany nuclear reactor should not be the subject of an environmental impact assessment. Vienna would then have a chance to give its opinion about the, for Austrians, unpopular nuclear power plant around 50 kilometres from the border and around 100 from Vienna.

Dana Drábová is the long time head of the Czech nuclear watchdog. She says Vienna’s stand is part of an ongoing fight over who has a say over continued operation of nuclear power plants.

Dana Drábová, photo: Alžběta Švarcová

“There is a big ongoing debate in the European Union, or European Community, about whether the long term operation of nuclear power plants is a reason for carrying out an evaluation about whether there is an impact on the environment.”

Drábová says she does not believe an environmental assessment of Dukovany would change the final verdict that it can keep on operating.