Prague this week hosted the 12th annual meeting of the European Nuclear Energy Forum, an opportunity for those in government, the industry, regulators, and European authorities to get together and try to plot the future for one of the continent’s key industries and energy sources. The room for cutting construction costs and how to deal with highly radioactive nuclear waste were two of the main subjects for debate this year, Radio Praha wrote.

Czech prime minister Bohuslav Sobotka and his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico both attended the forum opening and underlined their commitment to nuclear as part of Europe’s long term energy mix. Bohuslav Sobotka:"I would like to confirm the intent of the Czech government to intensively work on the construction of a new nuclear unit at Dukovany. We would like during our term to make all the preparations possible so that this can go forward quickly and smoothly and during this process will put the emphasis on transparency, efficiency and safety.ʺ

But government ministers have in the past clashed over who and how the new nuclear units will be paid for. New finance minister Ivan Pilný though promises he will try to make a breakthrough here in the few months he has before October’s general elections, Radio Praha wrote.

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