(ANSA) - BELGRADE, OCTOBER 17 - The construction of a second
nuclear reactor at the Slovenian Krsko NPP, an old idea put back
on the table by the Slovenian authorities last summer, is "not a
wise decision" as the site is located at a "capable fault" where
strong earthquakes might occur, professor Kurt Decker, an
Austrian geologist at the University of Vienna, told ANSA.
"Among all of the European nuclear power plants, the site of
Krsko is the one with the highest seismicity and therefore
highest seismic hazard," Decker added during an interview with
ANSA, underlining that the plant is located "at the boundary
between the Adriatic and the Pannonian Plate where plate
collision results in a large number of active faults and, hence,
a large number of earthquakes including strong ones."
"From the seismotectonic point of view the site is anything
but ideal: threats include significant seismic hazard and 'fault
capability'," the potential rupture of the ground surface by the
movement of an active fault during an earthquake, Decker said.
According to International Atomic Energy Agency, "the
existence of a capable fault at or close to the site of a new
nuclear power plant is a site exclusion criterion and 'an
alternative site shall be considered'," Decker recalled. (ANSA).
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