KRSKO NUCLEAR POWER PLANT SAFE FROM EARTHQUAKES

LJUBLJANA, Nov 27 (Hina) - The Croatian-Slovene joint nuclear power plant Krsko is not in an earthquake zone, geologists from Slovenia, Italy, and Austria have said after researching some assumptions according to which the plant is located on a tectonic rupture. Their conclusions are contained in a study released on Monday. The research was financed by the PHARE programme. Krsko is located on Slovene territory, not far from the Croatian border. Assumptions that it is located on an earthquake area appeared in the early 1990s, coming from Slovene ecologists who demanded an early closure of the plant. Slovenia hopes the results of the latest research will dispel Austria's reservations as to the plant's security. Thus far, Slovenia's northern neighbour has prevented closing the power chapter in Slovenia's negotiations with the European Union on rapprochement with the EU by demanding additional geophysical researches into Krsko. The only security recommendation the Slovenian, Austrian and Italian experts have made is to continue with geological and geophysical researches of the Krsko area. When it was being built 20 years ago, the anti-earthquake standard applied counted on a 0.3 G earthquake acceleration. The latest research has shown the nuclear plant could withstand an earthquake twice as strong. Several minor ones rocked the area in the last century, the strongest one in 1917, eight degrees on the Mercalli scale. (hina) ha jn