Nuclear regulatory authority
The Slovenian Nuclear Safety Administration was established in 1987 and is the body within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Spatial Planning. It is responsible for nuclear safety and radiation safety in industry and science, as well as for environmental radiation protection, physical protection of nuclear materials and facilities, nuclear non-proliferation and safeguards, radiation monitoring and third-party liability. The Slovenian Radiation Protection Administration within the Ministry of Health regulates and inspects radiation sources and activities in medicine and veterinary practices, which includes protection against ionizing radiation. Besides that, it authorizes radiation protection experts and ensures monitoring of food and drinking water, as well as radon monitoring. Physical protection of nuclear materials and nuclear facilities is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Interior. The Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief of the Ministry of Defence is the leading authority for emergency preparedness and planning.
Slovenia is a member of all relevant international and regional organizations and associations in the field of the peaceful use of nuclear energy and nuclear safety. It actively participates in international cooperation and regularly invites peer review missions to assess the alignment of its framework with international standards and best practices. Over the years, Slovenia has hosted several key international review missions, inter alia IRRS, IPPAS, INSARR, ORPAS, RAMP, OSART and EPREV.
More recently, a pre-SALTO mission at the Krško NPP in 2021, and an EPREV follow-up mission in 2022 took place, while back – to back IRRS and ARTEMIS missions took place in 2022, confirming Slovenia’s well developed and robust regulatory framework and its continuous commitment to strengthening nuclear and radiation safety and ensuring long-term safety and effectiveness. All mission reports are available here.
The Resolution on Nuclear and Radiation Safety in the Republic of Slovenia for the 2024-2033 period, adopted by the Slovenian Parliament is a high-level national policy and strategy paper (link to the English translation).
Nuclear activities
Slovenia is the smallest country with a nuclear power plant operating on its territory. Its nuclear facilities include one nuclear power plant in operation (PWR, Westinghouse 696 MWnet), one research reactor in operation (TRIGA Mark II 250 kW) and a central interim storage for radwaste (not for the NPP waste). In addition, there are radiation facilities and practices including one repository of hydro-metallurgical tailings, one repository of mine tailings, both located at the former uranium mine Žirovski vrh, and around 300 organizations engaged in radiation practices with about 700 radiation sources in use.
The ARAO - Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (ARAO, established in 1991) is responsible for all aspects of radioactive waste management. It provides public service of collecting radioactive waste from small producers, operates the storage of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste and it is responsible for the construction of repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste.
The Krško NPP commenced its long-term operation (LTO) at the beginning of 2024. A comprehensive approach was chosen for the approval of the LTO, which includes:
- Development of an Ageing Management Program (AMP)
- Successful completion of the Periodic Safety Review (PSR)
- Completion of an environmental impact assessment, which is a prerequisite for subsequent environmental consent.
The SNSA approved the AMP and the amended Safety Analysis Report in 2012. The environmental consent which was issued in January 2023, allows for the extended operation of the Krško NPP until 2043. The operating license is subject to the successful completion of a PSR every 10 years. The most recent (third) PSR report and the associated action plan were completed and approved in December 2023. Besides that, an IAEA pre-SALTO mission took place in the Krško NPP in October 2021 to additionally assess its preparedness for the LTO. This will be followed up with a regular SALTO mission scheduled for May 2025.
The Krško NPP also completed its work on the safety improvements from the Safety Upgrade Program (SUP), such as the construction of Bunker Building 2 (BB2) and the Spent Fuel Dry Storage Facility (SFDS), the installation of additional coolant injection and long-term cooling systems, and the upgrade of the Technical and Operational Emergency Support Centre.
In 2017, Slovenia prepared the Technical Report within the First Topical Peer Review (TPR) on ageing management under the 2014 Amended Nuclear Safety Directive. After reviewing all technical reports, Slovenia received one good practice, four good performances, five areas for improvement and four general challenges from ENSREG, which apply to all countries. These provide the input for the national action plan, which defines the scope and timeframe of the necessary improvements and measures, all of which have been implemented.
For the second TPR (TPR II) on fire protection in nuclear facilities, Slovenia prepared a national report in 2023. After clarifying several open issues, Slovenia received two specific questions/findings, one in the area of improvement and one in the area of good performance. It is expected that in 2025, all common and specific findings for each country will be specified by ENSREG, which will lead to the formation and implementation of the national TPR II action plan in the near future.
Radioactive waste and spent fuel management
The Resolution on the National Programme for the Management of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel (for the 2023-2032 Period) was adopted by the Parliament in 2023 (link to the English translation). The programme covers all short and long-term aspects of radioactive waste and spent fuel management.
Low and intermediate level waste from NPP Krško is stored on the site. All other radioactive waste generated in the country is handed over to the ARAO and stored in the interim storage close to the capital Ljubljana.
A new dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel was commissioned at the Krško NPP site in 2023 in the scope of Slovenia's post-Fukushima action plan. The first of four planned campaigns to transfer spent fuel from the spent fuel cooling pool to the dry storage facility was successfully completed in August 2023. The next transfer campaign is scheduled for 2029. The dry storage facility is designed for 100 years of operation. As a small nation, Slovenia strongly supports regional and global solutions for the long-term disposal of high-level radioactive waste.
Based on the bilateral agreement between Slovenia and Croatia about the ownership of the Krško NPP both parties shall in equal shares assure funds for the preparation of the plant decommissioning and for the disposal of radioactive waste and spent fuel. In 1994, such fund was established in Slovenia, and it is financed by the levy from each kWh produced in the Slovenian half of NPP Krško. A similar fund was also established in Croatia for its share of electricity from the same NPP.
The low and intermediate level radioactive waste repository is in construction since 2024. The site, named Vrbina, is situated in the municipality of Krško in the vicinity of the Krško NPP. ARAO is the future operator of this repository. The repository should start trial operation in 2027. The Vrbina repository operation will be carried out in two phases. In first phase Slovenian half of operational low- and intermediate-level waste (LILW) generated in Krško NPP and all other radioactive waste generated in Slovenia will be disposed by the end of 2029 and in second phase after 2050 remaining second half of Slovenian LILW from operation and decommissioning of Krško NPP and all other institutional LILW will be disposed. In 2030, the repository will enter the standby phase until re-entering the operation in 2050.
Main legal instruments
The main piece of legislation is the Ionising Radiation Protection and Nuclear SafetyAct (ZVISJV-1). This Act from 2018 was completely refurbished to align it with the provisions of the EU Directive on Protection against Ionizing Radiation (2013/59/Euratom). Secondary legislation was also part of this project. The secondary legislation in force can be found on the SNSA webpage. In the area of third party liability, Slovenia is a party to the Paris Convention and Brussels Supplementary Convention, thus with the Act on Liability for Nuclear Damage from 2011, the legislation was brought fully in line with the provisions of the aforementioned international legal instruments. In January 2022, the Protocol to Amend the Paris Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability entered into force.
LINKS TO SLOVENIAN OPERATORS (listed under 'Nuclear Activities' above)
Last updated in July 2025
