A Czech nuclear reactor that has been criticised in neighbouring Austria for saftey reasons was reconnected to the national grid Sunday after being temporarily shut down for routine tests, the news agency CTK reported.
The number one reactor of the nuclear power station at Temelin was closed down Saturday as part of once-monthly tests since the middle of last year.
The Temelin plant, which went into operation in 2000, has prompted criticism in Austria on safety and environmental grounds. Austria opted to close down its own commercial nuclear power plants in 1978.
The plant, 60 kilometres (36 miles) from the Czech-Austrian border, was a Soviet design dating from the communist era when Czechoslovakia was an ally of the Soviet Union. Western security systems were later added.
Original plans were for four reactors but were scaled back to two.
The power station has experienced a succession of technical difficulties, especially in its secondary non-nuclear circuit, causing the reactors to be hurriedly shut down several times for safety reasons.
The station generates 15 percent of electricity in the Czech Republic.
