Support among the Czech people for the Temelin nuclear power plant remains high in spite of worries in Austria and Germany about its safety. A poll conducted in the Czech Republic by the IVVM Agency showed that 71 per cent of those polled supported the completion of the Soviet-designed nuclear power station. Temelin is roughly 50 km from the border with Austria.
Support for the project has increased in recent months. In June it was 63 per cent and in April 1999 it was 52 per cent. The plant has been modernized and upgraded to meet western European safety standards, the Czech authorities claim. The operators have recently started to bring two of the units online.
In Austria opposition to the project remains high. Popular opposition has led to the blocking of border crossings between the two countries while the Austrian government has threatened to block the Czech Republic’s negotiations with the European Union if its demands for further safety checks, checks which it claims will show the plant should be scrapped, are not carried out.
The Czech authorities have now agreed to allow a series of tests by a European Union sponsored commission of experts. The plant is due to start full scale production early next year.
In Germany, meanwhile, the government is also concerned about safety, even though the Czech authorities have agreed to carry out a new round of checks. The German government claims that given the plant’s current specification, and the information it has received, the project would not be approved in Germany.