Czechs offer meeting with Austria on nuclear plant

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Czechs offer meeting with Austria on nuclear plant
  
PRAGUE, Nov 20 (Reuters) - The Czech government has proposed a top-
level meeting with Austria next month to try to resolve the row 
between the two neighbours over the disputed Temelin nuclear power 
plant, a Czech official said on Monday. 

The Czechs earlier cancelled a trip to Vienna by Prime Minister Milos 
Zeman because of border blockades by Austrian anti-nuclear activists. 


But a Czech Foreign Ministry source told Reuters the Czech side had 
now suggested a meeting between Zeman and Austrian Chancellor 
Wolfgang Schuessel on December 11, following the November 9 end of 
the blockades. 

The row over the safety of the Soviet-designed Temelin station, built 
just over 50 km (30 miles) from the Austrian border, has grown into 
the Czechs' largest diplomatic conflict since the end of Communism 11 
years ago. 

Fiercely anti-nuclear Austria says the plant, launched last month, is 
unsafe and should be shut down at least until further checks are 
made. 

It has threatened to block the Czechs' bid to join the European Union 
unless its demands are met, and began to make good the threat by 
forcing a postponement of a round of membership talks on energy 
planned for last week in Brussels. 

Zeman met Schuessel once last month in an attempt to ease the 
tension, but the meeting failed to defuse Austria's worries. Czech 
Foreign Minister Jan Kavan has said he hopes to resolve the conflict 
by year-end. 

Austria's concerns were reinforced on Saturday, when the plant's 
safety system shut down the reactor during a test of its cooling 
installations. 

The Czech nuclear regulator said the glitch had probably been caused 
by a false signal to the safety system and posed no threat, and the 
plant later restarted chain reaction. 

WENRA, an association of western Europe's nuclear regulators, said 
earlier this month that Temelin would match Western safety standards 
if several remaining issues were resolved. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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