Temelin reconnected to national electricity grid

The Temelin nuclear power plant was reconnected to the country's national electricity grid on Thursday, as test production resumes following a 10-day shutdown for repair work. The plant has suffered a series of technical problems since going into test operation last year, the latest being vibrations in a turbine. Temelin has been fiercely opposed by Austrian environmentalists, who say its mixture of Soviet design and American technology is dangerous. The plant's operators, the state-owned energy utility CEZ, say Temelin is safe, and the technical problems are normal during any test operation.

Kavan predicts warming of relations with Austria

Mr Kavan expressed his conviction on Thursday that in a year's time Czech relations with Austria would be as good as with Germany. Mr Kavan said Czech-Austrian relations - strained recently by disagreements over the Temelin nuclear power plant and the post-war expulsion of ethnic Germans from Czechoslovakia - were now improving considerably. Mr Kavan meets his Austrian counterpart Benita Ferrero-Waldner on March 29th to open the first of a series of history conferences on common episodes in the two countries' history.