Austrian Greens call for shutdown of Temelin

The Austrian Green Party has called for the Temelin nuclear power plant to be shut down until the completion of an environmental impact study at the plant. Following widespread protests against Temelin by Austrian environmentalists last year, the Czech and Austrian prime ministers agreed in December that an environmental impact study would be carried out at the plant before it commences commercial operations. But the Austrian Green Party wants test operations at the plant to be halted altogether until the completion of the study. The party has called on the European Union to start talks with the Czech authorities to have Temelin shut down. The party fears that frequent shutdowns at Temelin due to technical problems indicate that the plant is dangerous.