Krško nuclear power station (NEK) chairman Stane Rožman said that everything had gone according to plan  and announced that the operation would cost around EUR 20m which will  be covered by the plant own funds.

He explained that aside from NEK staff, the maintenance works would involve more than a thousand contracted workers and more than 60 domestic and international companies.

Apart from refuelling and scheduled maintenance works, the outage also involved 27 upgrades designed to boost the safety and reliability of the plant's operation, according to the announcement.

Rožman also said that the security upgrade at the plant was ongoing; the first stage has already been completed, with a second slated for completion in 2018 and the third and final one by the end of 2021.

This autumn NEK will undergo an inspection by the World Association of Nuclear Operators, which is to be followed in 2017 by an IAEA EPREV mission, which will check the plant's preparedness for the case of a nuclear accident at the local and state levels.