Slovenian nuclear power plant Krsko (NEK), which shut down on Thursday morning due to a glitch, is expected to restart on Friday, NEK said in a statement.

Stane Rozman, CEO of NEK, said a problem with a regulatory mainstream water valve caused the automatic halt in plant operations on Thursday morning and the diagnostics on the impairment of the valve was underway.

He stressed there had been no impact on the environment.

NEK, jointly owned by Slovenia and its neighbor Croatia, started operating in 1982 and its lifespan was prolonged by 20 years to 2043 last year.

The latest month-long regular maintenance of the plant costing 20 million euros (21.3 million U.S. dollars) took place last October.

The plant provides about 25 percent of Slovenia's power and about 20 percent of Croatia's.

source: Xinhua