Germany has officially called on the Czech government to shut down the Soviet designed Temelin nuclear plant on account of safety considerations; it joins Austria, which has threatened to hold up the Czech Republic’s EU entry over the issue. But Czech deputy prime minister Vladimir Spidla has denied implications that the plant is unsafe, stating that safety si a key parameter and that the plant is safer than the majority of operating nuclear plants. Berlin and Vienna say that the plant is too close to their borders (40 km) when its design does not meet Western safety standards; the Czech government has said repeatedly that the Western designed safety upgrades have brought the plant’s standards up to a high level.
