The dry fuel storage building at the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia. (Photo: Holtec)

The first cask of used nuclear fuel was moved to dry storage at the Krško nuclear power plant in Slovenia on April 2, officially marking the storage facility’s commissioning, announced Holtec International, which is conducting the fuel transfer campaign.

According to Holtec, the current fuel loading campaign will consist of a total of 16 of the company’s HI-STORM FW casks being placed in dry storage.

The facility: Plant operator Nuklearna elektrarna Krško (NEK) received the operating license for the dry storage facility, the plant’s first, from the Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration last October. The Krško facility was built under the management of Holtec’s Civil Design and Construction Department with the assistance of local supply chains, primarily consisting of Slovenian, Croatian, and Italian companies.

Westinghouse’s plans for supplying AP1000 reactors to Ukraine may have been complicated by Russia’s invasion of the country, but the company is nonetheless continuing its efforts to strengthen business ties in Central and Eastern Europe. On April 5, Westinghouse signed memorandums of understanding with three companies in Slovenia.

Three factors will drive nuclear exports: energy security, decarbonization, and geopolitics. Recent power prices in Europe, coupled with the situation in Ukraine, demonstrate the interplay of all three factors. Nuclear exports have to be viewed in the context of the current geopolitical climate, particularly relative to Russian and Chinese competitive offerings. Finally, the critical importance of nuclear energy in meeting global decarbonization efforts can be a driving force for exports, further enhanced by the inclusion of nuclear energy in clean/green taxonomies and the accompanying support from the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) investor community.

The Berkeley, Calif.-based startup Deep Isolation has contracted with Slovenia’s radioactive waste management organization ARAO to conduct a feasibility study on the use of deep boreholes to dispose of the country’s spent research reactor fuel.

Anže Logar, Slovenia’s foreign minister (left), talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on December 7 in Washington, D.C. Photo: State Department

In the latest example of the Trump administration’s recent efforts to forge nuclear agreements with Central and Eastern European nations (for other examples, see here, here, and here), the United States earlier this week signed a memorandum of understanding concerning strategic civil nuclear cooperation (NCMOU) with Slovenia.

The NCMOU was signed on December 8 during a visit to Washington, D.C., by a Slovenian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Anže Logar. Signing it were Christopher Ford, the administration’s assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, and Jernej Vrtovec, Slovenia’s minister of infrastructure.

The previous day, Logar met with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to discuss, among other topics, “the importance of energy security and how civil nuclear cooperation can strengthen the strategic bilateral relationship,” according to a State Department readout.