The return of Janez Janša to the helm of the Slovenian government brings the JEK2 project back into sharp focus — a second reactor to be built alongside the existing Krško nuclear plant. Among the major infrastructure commitments in the new cabinet’s programme, nuclear expansion stands out as the most urgent, framed as a national security issue even before an energy policy one.
Slovenia operates a single reactor. Krško, rated at 696 MWe, entered commercial service in 1983 and in January 2023 received a twenty-year licence extension, keeping it online until 2043. It currently meets around one-third of the country’s electricity demand. The JEK2 project calls for a pressurised water reactor of approximately 1,100 MWe, capable of generating between 8 and 12 TWh per year over an estimated sixty-year lifespan. Costs are projected at between five and six billion euros, to be borne entirely by state-owned utility GEN Energija.
On the technology front, competition is open between two industry giants. In early 2025, GEN Energija signed contracts for technical feasibility studies with both EDF and Westinghouse, the latter partnering with Hyundai Engineering & Construction. The two studies assess the French proposal and the AP1000 reactor respectively — the same design that underpins the existing plant. South Korea’s KHNP had initially taken part in the selection process before withdrawing. The final construction decision is expected between 2027 and 2028, with commercial operation targeted for the mid-2040s.
The appointment of Jernej Vrtovec, leader of the New Slovenia party, as Minister for Energy and Infrastructure sends a clear signal. Vrtovec had already managed the Krško dossier during Janša’s previous term in office: accelerating JEK2 is his stated priority. Bringing in a minister with direct continuity on the project reduces the risk of the bureaucratic delays that had slowed proceedings in the previous legislature — a period that also saw a planned 2024 referendum cancelled on procedural grounds.
For Slovenia — a country of just over two million people wedged between Italy, Austria and the Western Balkans — dependence on imported energy is a tangible vulnerability. JEK2 is more than a power plant: it is a structural answer to that vulnerability. Should EDF or Westinghouse deliver favourable feasibility findings on schedule, Ljubljana could find itself in the coming years holding a concrete construction plan, a regulatory framework already in motion and a government firmly committed to seeing it through. Few European countries of comparable size have reached this point with such consistent policy direction.
