Schwarzenberg: Temelin to operate for 50 years

Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has stated that the Czech Republic's Temelin nuclear power plant will operate for another forty or fifty years. He made the statement in an interview for the Austrian weekly "News", indicating he saw Temelin strictly as an internal political problem within Austria itself. The Temelin nuclear power plant is based some sixty kilometres from the Austrian border and is regularly criticised by Austrian activists who say it is unsafe. While Mr Schwarzenberg expressed sympathy for Austrian fears over the plant he compared them to fears of the world ending, or a meteorite hitting the Earth. He told "News" that in terms of safety Temelin ranked within the "top third" of nuclear plants in Europe.