[2][3] In the early 1970s, Tito's government of Yugoslavia recognized the need for additional electrical production in the constituent republics of Croatia and Slovenia.

With a domestic source of uranium available, proposals were obtained from Siemens (Germany) and Westinghouse (USA) for a single nuclear power station of a practical size.

The Yugoslav management in 1975 consisted of personnel from both the Slovenian and Croatian power companies and a representative from the central government in Belgrade.

In January 2001, the leaders of the two countries agreed on equal ownership of the Krško plant, joint responsibility for the nuclear waste, and the compensation of mutual claims.

The plant was expected to start supplying Croatia with electricity by July 1, 2002 at the latest, but the connection was only established in 2003 because of protests from the local population.

Since then, HEP has additionally sued the Slovenian side for damages during the latest one-year period when Krško wasn't supplying power to it.

In December 2015, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in favor of HEP, awarding it more than €40 million in damages, interest and attorneys' fees.

[17] According to Nuclear Expertise groups, national entities within the European union, such as the ASN in France, this incident was wrongly reported to ECURIE.

This type of incident (a small leakage on primary pumps) is a relatively common occurrence in nuclear power plants.

[citation needed] On March 28, 2022, the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenković, stated that he supports the expansion of the nuclear power plant, while depending on Slovenia.

[6] In August 2024, prime minister Golob committed to holding a referendum on a two-unit expansion of up to 2400 MWe, possibly to take place in late 2024 after key documents were published.