In half a century after the laying of the foundation stone, more than 220 billion kilowatt hours of electrical energy

The speakers' wishes at the groundbreaking ceremony on 1 December 1974 that the power plant should succeed in its mission reflected the circumstances of the time. The electrical energy supply was unreliable, hindering economic and social development. Slovenia and Croatia, whose electric companies financed the construction in the same proportion, also wanted to ensure greater energy self-sufficiency.

Nuclear energy symbolized modernity and progress. Committed pioneers of nuclear energy already before worked together in development and research. They were successful promoters and catalysts of the development of the industry, which participated in the construction, and of all the institutions involved in the administrative procedures. Less than seven years after the symbolic start of construction, NEK began trial operation. Last year, it completed the originally planned 40 years of commercial operation and met the administrative requirements for the next 20. 

The foundation stone – a compass carved into a slab of Pohorje tonalite – symbolically connects all generations of power plant workers and companies that built the power plant, ensuring decades of successful operation. It symbolized the collective's unwavering determination to ensure operation even in periods that were not favorable to the use of nuclear energy. It directs new generations to a long-term goal for the benefit of the community: the reliability and predictability of electrical energy supply and its competitive price, as well as facing the challenges of climate change.

From the planned 4 billion kilowatt hours annually to 6 billion in years without outages

Our fundamental mission and responsibility are to ensure safe and stable operation. With permanent operational control and careful maintenance, we constantly upgrade equipment and processes following our own and international experience and administrative requirements. We have carried out more than 1,000 technological upgrades to increase the plant's safety, availability, and power. At the beginning of operation, its gross capacity was 664 MW, but after replacing the steam generators and both low-pressure turbines and the high-pressure one, it is now 737 MW. If the annual production was at 4 billion kilowatt hours in the first decade of operation, we now reach 6 billion kilowatt hours in the years without outages and 5.4 billion with outages. In the last decade, we have technologically upgraded the power plant to increase resistance to unlikely extreme natural and other events. We mostly financed all projects with our funds but also partly with contributions from partners and bank loans; at the same time, we maintained a competitive price for the electrical energy produced.

We are proud of the professionalism and commitment of all generations.

The first generations of NEK employees and from more than 60 domestic companies that participated in the construction successfully faced high expectations and many challenges of transferring new technology. The generation of local experts, who took responsibility for all aspects of the power plant's operation after construction, laid a solid foundation for forming a competent team with a high level of commitment to the values ​​of safety and business culture. The international environment was also a source of experience and knowledge related to the power plant's operation, maintenance, and modernization. If the first generations only drew from it, now we equally invest in this common treasury of nuclear energy knowledge through active participation in international professional associations.