The second unit of the Czech Republic's controversial nuclear power plant Temelin has been reconnected to the country's power grid and was working at around 80 percent of its capacity on Tuesday, plant spokesman Milan Nebesar told AFP. "We connected the reactor up to the grid late on Monday. It should be working at full capacity by the end of the week," Nebesar said, adding that a programme had been put in place to monitor its performance.
The second unit was closed down for a scheduled fuel change at the start of September but the shut-down was prolonged when problems were found with the watertightness of some of the casings that contain the radioactive fuel.
The latest problems at Temelin have exacerbated frosty relations with non-nuclear neighbour Austria, which has questioned the safety of the Soviet-designed power plant.
Temelin's two 1,000 megawatt reactors, located around 60 kilometres (35 miles) from the Austrian border, make up the Czech Republic's single biggest electricity production unit. They are run by 67 percent state-owned company, CEZ.
CEZ announced on November 15 that its first reactor, also facing problems with the performance of its fuel, will undergo an unscheduled shutdown of up to 55 days next year aimed at ironing out some of its ongoing problems.
Analyst Tomas Kanka said the shutdown could cost 12 million koruna (427,250 euros or 316,592 dollars) per day. CEZ has to switch to other, more expansive power plants, or buy electricity if its nuclear units are not functioning.
The Temelin plant has encountered a series of problems that have caused it to shut down its reactors since it came into service in October 2000, notably in its secondary non-nuclear circuit.
